The Trane Station - a jazz blog

Bebop buffet

2010-11-23T03:38:00.003+01:00

I have decided to end the Trane Station and start writing a more expanded arts and music blog. The new project is called the Bebop Buffet, and will be a collection of articles about not just jazz but also topics like food, nature and photography. Sort of a aesthete's musings of life beauty in general.

Hope you will come by and have a read. Thanks

Music as a service

2009-12-01T14:38:00.001+01:00

For too long, the big labels, distributors, record store chains and concert promoters screwed us over. We were paying too much for too little. But along came some very compelling technology and we stopped paying for music which in the end put the sustainability of an entire industry at risk.

Once again, technology is playing a revolutionary role but this time instead of depth charging the entire industry it’s actually creating an entirely new market. Music as a service, based on emerging content streaming technologies is making music available whenever and wherever you want it, for free or for a reasonably small premium.

Think of it like any other kind of service – like the car wash or the dry cleaners. Most of us are not going to invest in $40,000 of industrial cleaning equipment and so we happily drop $7 every now and again to make our Pontiac rims shine. Music as a service works the same way. It’s based on either an ad-sponsored model or a monthly premium model in which consumer pay a music hosting service to be able to listen to an almost infinite collection of tracks.

One well known example is Rhapsody, which has been around for many years. They premium music service is thorough and offers a mobile component but they never quite revolutionized the industry due to their lack of an ad-sponsored model. Spotify however seems to have got the balance just right. The Swedish-English company launched its service in Europe in late 2008 and today has nearly 5 million users. Their music player is slick and works very much like iTunes with an online and offline functions (for premium users only) and they even offer a mobile client for a select few smartphones (including iPhone). But Spotify is revolution the industry by proving that it is possible to offer free music while still making money.

This is the same model the Google founded its emporium on and is the one that will probably drive the media industry for the foreseeable future.

Jam session

2009-08-28T11:44:00.008+02:00

I remember sitting in my childhood home playing guitar one afternoon a few years back. I was just fooling around and playing a simple blues progression. My father walked into the room. He had always had a beautiful singing voice and loved to sing-a-long to Frank Sinatra and other great vocalists from the 40s (his favorite station was Frank's place on XM radio). That afternoon he listened to me for a moment and then started to improvise his own lyrics. It was a spontaneous jam session.

We had never played before but the song really grooved. Sadly we wouldn't get the chance to play again. My father passed away on August 5, 2009. He had a great musical spirit. He was a wonderful father.

Record sales and random thoughts

2009-07-01T09:48:00.004+02:00

Its no secrect that 'Thriller' is the best selling record of all-time with over 1oo million in sales. That album was produced by jazz trumpeter, Quincy Jones. Sadly however, the best selling jazz album of all time is 'Come Away with Me' by Norah Jones. Not that it is an awful album, its just that not even classics like Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme and Take Five come close to the 20 million in sales that this record has.

Other interesting sales triva include The Backsteet Boys' Millenium album, which sold more than any Beatles, Led Zepplin or U2 album. Also, it is interesting to note that Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is one of the top 40 selling albums of all time. Since I can't think of another song off that album, the 20-minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida track must be one of the most popular singles of all time. And it is sad to see that greatest hits or soundtracks represent five of the top eleven all time best-selling albums.

Most saddening is that after Bing Crosby, Kenny G is the top selling jazz artist ever. (Sigh, weep).

Berns - the grandfather of jazz venues

2009-05-22T21:37:00.016+02:00

A hundred and forty years is enough to give you a bit of street credit if you are a jazz club. Now Berns Salonger is no pure jazz venue but it has been booking great improvisational gigs for - well a for a very, long time and that makes it an appropriate first entry for my series on Stockholm's jazz clubs.

From the beginning (circa 1863), Berns probably never indented to be a hangout for ratty beatniks and kids from New Jersey but over time, and as booze got cheaper, it has morphed from an upper class dance hall to one of the cities' hippest live music venues.

Berns still maintains a high-brow feel with turn of the century-style giant chandeliers, ceiling frescoes and golden ionic columns. The interior however has provided a perfect backdrop for some great musical acts that have passed through over the years like Frank Sinatra, MiriamMakeba and Erykah Badu.

I stopped by Berns one early spring evening to listen to a small, indie jazz group called The Quiet Nights Orchestra who were releasing their first album, Chapter One. Their music, a mix of a classic 'nordic sound' together with bossa, swing and even a bit of bebop was a great way to get into the Berns groove.

Dear Old Stockholm - Part 1

2009-04-17T13:01:00.009+02:00

Stockholm, along with Copenhagen and Paris were at one point centers of the European jazz scene as well as a creative refuges for countless American artists. As black American musicians became increasingly fed up with intolerant US attitudes, they turned towards Europe, which had a more open mind both socially and in some cases creatively. American artists like Stan Getz, Quincy Jones and James Moody actually lived in Sweden and toured and recorded with Swedish musicians. Jones composed his 1953 classic, ‘The Midnight Sun Never Sets,’ while living in Stockholm and Miles' own tribute to the Scandinavian sound can be heard in his rendition of the Swedish-folk classic, Dear Old Stockholm.

The golden age of jazz in Stockholm was during the 50's and 60's and during that time legendary clubs, like the Gyllene Cirkeln, booked weeks-long gigs with many of jazz's biggest names. Though that era is unfortunately long passed, there is still great jazz to be heard in the Swedish capitol and lots of of great, small clubs to hear it in. In this series, I will attempt to find and visit all of Stockholm's jazz venues and clubs that support improvisational music. My hope is to find out that jazz in Stockholm is still is still flourishing and blazing new creative trails. In an era of top-selling Hanna Montana records and Eagles reunion concerts, this could one very welcome - albeit small - sign that the music, and the great artists that make it, are not dead yet.

And the Lord said, "Let there be jazz".

2009-04-06T20:48:00.008+02:00

With major-league holidays like Passover and Easter descending down upon us this week, it seems appropriate to reflect on music that has been inspired by a higher, funkier power.

Take John Scofield's latest album, Peity Street which is a blues album featuring a number of gospel standards like 'Walk with Me" and "I'll Fly Away", all rounded off by Sco's fine guitar work. Another one of my favorites is The Word featuring Robert Randolph and John Medeski. This group draws heavily from the gospel songbook but with a very gritty and rocking interpretation. Not that gospel and scripture-inspired music are anything new to jazz or rock which are themselves heavily rooted in the blues and black spirituals.

But don't think that Jesus, Mary and Joseph have a monopoly on holy anointed jazz. Composer and artist, John Zorn runs an entire record label dedicated to radical Jewish music. Tzadik is heavy into avant-garde but one album that is very accessible is Bar Kochba. The 2-disc album tells a story of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 130 A.D. through a number of orchestral and jazz pieces performed by artists like John Medeski and Marc Ribot.

Finally a discussion on music and theology would not be complete without a mention of the great sitar tradition of Southeast Asia which blends religious and musical influences from across the region. Check out sitar master, Shahid Parvez to get yourself into a further state of melodic grace.

Sco is back

2009-03-26T20:20:00.005+01:00

I get that warm tingly feeling deep down inside when Scofield has a new release on deck. This time, with his new release Piety Street, it is no different. Sco started his career as a soul and blues guitarist and his latest album is a tribute to the down home blues with a pinch of New Orleans-style gosple. With a fat line-up that includes Jon Cleary (p), George Porter Jr (b), Ricky Fataar (d), John Boutté (v) and Shannon Powell (per) this release is sure to be as smooth as biscuits and gravy.

Interview with Esbjörn Svensson

2009-01-15T15:00:00.003+01:00

A lot has been written about pianist Esbjörn Svensson. Unfortuanatly though, most of what was written was done after his tragic death in June of 2007. Esbjörn was a musical pioneer, the likes of which will probably not be fully appreciated for years to come. I was fortunate to interview him just weeks before he died and although I have written on this blog before about our encounter, I have never posted the full interview. The questions below were orginally intended to go into an article about Swedish music. Unfortuantly, the final article was an obituary.

How and when did you first starting listening to jazz?

I never really divided music into jazz or rock or different styles. I started listening to music at a very young age. My father player lots of old jazz records at home – mainly Charlie Parker, Monk, Teddy Wilson and Ellington. My mother played classical piano. European classical music has meant a lot to me - the romanticism of Chopin and the earlier music of Mozart and Bach are extremely important to my language.

Then I started to listen to my own music - rock and roll. The first time without knowing that I was listening to jazz and the first time I fell for something was from Slade: Find yourself a rainbow. That tune is very much jazz. I was trying to play that song and it turned my mind apart just trying to figure out what they were doing.”

Who were some of your early jazz influences?

I grew up in Västerås, about an hour outside of Stockholm. They had a place there called Bryggargården with music and on Sundays and there you could hear jazz music sometimes. One of the most famous jazz musicians in Sweden, Bobo Stenson, is from Västerås. His playing, his style and his very important approach to music influenced me a lot.

Out on the road, how is jazz from Sweden typically perceived?

People are looking at Sweden and Scandinavia as something very exciting, something very different. They are talking about a different sound that we are creating up here. There is a very positive atmosphere around Scandinavian music and there is a great interest and a very positive response to Scandinavian jazz.

What makes ‘Swedish jazz’ original?

That’s problematic to say. I don’t know. Bobo Stenson had a very significant sound, and maybe a Nordic sound. To be honest, I am not the right guy to say because I am in the middle of it. Lots of people try to play like the American guys but maybe the fact that all of us have grown up here, with folk music from the ‘milk of the mother’ - you can’t do much about it. It is probably influenced the way all of us are playing.

Dear Old Stockholm, is a based on a Swedish folk song? Does the jazz standard have a special significance to you as a Swedish artist?

Absolutely, but I would rather play the original folk song. It’s beautiful. I made an album with trombonist Nils Landgren where we are playing Swedish folk music. Before those recordings, I had no idea that we had such a treasure of melodies. Doing research I discovered all these fantastic small tunes and without knowing it, it has influenced me a lot.

What do you think about the jazz scene in Sweden today?

We spend most of our time abroad. Of the 100 concerts we played last year, 3 were in Sweden. When I am at home I spend my time with my family. What I hear is that it’s still very tough. It has always been tough and always will to be a jazz musician. There are not many places to play and audiences are not so big. We have had the opportunity to experience something different. So maybe we don’t play jazz.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s Stockholm was a place where there was a great creative exchange between American and Swedish artists. Is that kind of thing happening today?

As far as I know there is not a place like that existing anymore where guys are just hanging around jamming - where they can really meet and exchange ideas. Through our travelling though we have had the possibility to meet a lot wonderful players from all around the world.

What about the Stockholm jazz festival? What do you think about that event?

It is beautiful place, a beautiful location with the water all around. It is always such a pleasure to be a part of that festival. We are looking forward to play there and to play Stockholm”

Do you think festivals like that should be purely jazz?
Again, I don’t think of music in terms of jazz and stuff. I think it’s much better to try and create a music festival, where you just have good music. Give the audience lots of different things where they get a chance to hear something new. I have been to a lot of great festivals in Europe where they are doing lots of good music and not only jazz. For me it is only positive what they are doing (in Stockholm).

Music is political

2008-11-06T21:21:00.002+01:00

Music has been and probably always will be a political platform. Beethoven dedicated his third symphony to Napoleon honoring what he thought were the conquerors’ enlightened aspirations for Europe. In the early part of the 20th century, Woody Guthrie sung songs about the working man and socialist causes. ‘Keep that oil a rollin’’ is one good example:

You oil field workers, come and listen to me
I'm goin' to tell you a story about old John D.
That company union made a fool out of me.
That company union don't charge no dues
It leaves you a-singing them Rockefeller blues.
That company union made a fool out of me.

Then you have Crosby, Stills and Nash’s, OHIO which is one of my favorite protest songs from the early 1970’s:

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in O-HI-O

And even before America elected its first ever black president, black musicians were making politics a central part of the blues, soul and early hip hop. Check out James Brown’s ‘Funky President’:

Hey, country
Didn't say what you meant
Just changed
Brand new funky President

Stock market going up
Jobs going down
And ain't no funking
Jobs to be found

Taxes keep going up
I changed from a glass
Now I drink out of a paper cup
It's getting bad

Today we can not underestimate the role that music plays in election campaigns. Hip hop artists from Nas to Jay Z all put out songs promoting Obama. The only musical connection with McCain was that he liked ABBA. Enough said.

I'll end with this line from Common on a track by Jadakiss:

"Why is Bush acting like he trying to get Osama?/Why don't we impeach him and elect Obama?"

(Photo by Ann Johansson/Getty Images)

New music frenzy from some old favorites

2008-10-03T15:56:00.003+02:00

October is turning out to be a good month. Warren Buffett might just save the economy, Barack Obama is leading in the polls and some of my most favorite people in the whole universe are releasing some great new music.

Today marks the release of Baboon Strength, jazz-funk pioneer and, 8-string guitarist virtuoso, Charlie Hunter’s 17th album. In my opinion Charlie drifted away from his signature groove-based sound in his last few albums but if All About Jazz knows all about Charlie, then the funk is back. I ran into some baboons in South Africa and those are some mean mofos, so the name certainly carries some expectations with it. I will report back after making a stop at my local digital record shop.

A few days ago, Medeski, Martin and Wood came out with the first in its Radiolarians series, a three album series in which the band will write music, take it on the road for some fine tuning and then return to the studio to record a final version. This highly unorthodox method counters every trend in the bottom line-focused, factory produced music world we are used to hearing from.

The process gets us closer to the motherboard of MMW’s creative processing unit than was ever possible before. Check out Go Free Lily, which is a track off their Radiolarian Series Volume 1. If this is representative of the rest of the series we are all in for some booty shaking treats in the coming months.

Also check out another recent MMW release: Zaebos: The Book of Angels Vol. 11 on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Members of the band have collaborated before with Zorn, an iconic, avant-garde composer from NYC, but this release is MMW alone interpreting music from Zorn’s Masada songbook. Very experimental, but has great melodic quality as well.

Esbjörn Svensson remembered in Down Beat

2008-09-24T16:09:00.004+02:00

Check out page 23 of the October edition of Down Beat magazine for a short tribute /obituary (by yours truly) to Sweden's most important jazz artist of the last two decades.

Stevie takes political change to higher ground

2008-09-24T15:23:00.006+02:00

Last week I went to a sold-out show at Stockholm's Globe arena to see one of the greatest living musical legends of our time: Stevie Wonder! It's no secret that Stevie is a steadfast fan of Barak Obama (and visa verse) but it was amazing to see him get the an entire stadium of usually mild-mannered Swedes to sing 'BAA-RAK-OBAA-MA' along to the tune of Sly Stone's Sing a Simple Song.

Some of the other highlights included his instrumental versions of jazz classics, All Blues (Miles Davis) and Spain (Chick Corea). And while he played a few sappy crowd pleasers, the overall show was a great experience. You got to get out and see these icons while they are still around.

My guitar dilemma

2008-08-08T11:48:00.002+02:00

Thanks to the fact that the value of the US dollar is in the toilet, this summer’s trip back home (to NJ) will be the perfect opportunity to blow some good disposable income. A new guitar is highest on my agenda and specifically a semi-acoustic axe could be good for a hack like me who likes playing jazz but is really just an overrated blues and funk player. Here are the top contenders right now:

Gibson ES-175
I have to admit I am in love with this instrument. It is the quintessential jazz guitar for me and conjures images of a smoky, 1959 club in Berkley California with Wes grooving though a version of Cottontail. I have seen some used ones from about $1500 but new it runs about $2900. Don’t know if my pocketbook can hack that.

Gibson ES-335
This is a blues man’s Cadillac. Lucille. There is a reason BB has been playing this instrument for most of his professional life. It can deliver a locomotive style blues riff and still tenderly handle of Ellington ballad. If you thought the ES 175 was pricey, retail this one goes for about $3000. Lord have mercy! Not sure what a reasonable price should be for a non-vintage used model.

JSM100
This is the signature series for my favorite guitarist around today. I am heavily influenced by the mere fact that John Scofield has mentioned this guitar, let alone endorses it. I love the tone that he gets out of this instrument and the fact that it works on funk, blues as well as bop. Once again though with quality comes a fat price tag: $3000 – on sale.

So this is my guitar dilemma. Any advice?

Music scene heats up the Swedish summer

2008-07-11T11:49:00.003+02:00

July means some fine live music for Stockholm. The jazz festival there kicks off on July 16th and features some great artists like Esperanza Spalding, Mike Stern, Elaine Elias and the SFJazz Collective. If the weather is right, it can be a top notch event.

I wrote of couple of stories recently about the jazz scene in Stockholm and Sweden. You can find them here:

http://www.thelocal.se/12982/20080711/

and here:

http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/Frontpage.aspx?id=1898

Esbjörn Svensson (1964 – 2008)

2008-06-16T08:42:00.001+02:00

Sweden and possibly Scandinavia’s premier jazz artist died this weekend in a diving accident in the Stockholm archipelago. Esbjörn Svensson was 44 years old.

This is tragic loss not only for his family but also for the world of jazz. I had a chance to speak with Svensson about a month ago and despite it being my first interview with a big-name artist, he gave me really thoughtful, honest replies. I am sure his easy-going personality influenced his playing as well. Esbjörn Svensson and his music will be sorely missed.

100% American-made

2008-05-23T21:13:00.004+02:00

I recently watched a documentary about modern the development of modern jazz in Europe. In ‘Play You’re Your Own Thing’, prominent jazz artists from Scandinavia, Germany and France discuss how jazz made its way from America and found a unique voice in Europe by fusing with existing cultural traditions. This I completely agree with.

In the same movie though, others claimed that it was in fact European instrumentation that made jazz possible. This, excuse my French, is complete bullshit.

Jazz is a universal language that can be expressed through many different mediums and instruments but without the black American experience it would never have come to be.

There are many things that European culture has contributed to world and in many ways it is more progressive than my native America. However, jazz’s origin and invention in America is one thing I will not concede.

Jazz is a direct musical descendent of black culture and their experience in America. It is the most basic element in the development of jazz's melodies, rhythms and soul. Without African slaves there would be no spirituals. Without spirituals there would be no gospel and blues. And without the blues there is no jazz.

Get out of the music box

2008-05-16T16:44:00.000+02:00

I listened to a recent discussion on NPR about which generation has the most influential musical legacy: Baby Boomers or Gen Xer's. The one side claimed that with giants like of the Stones, Beatles and Zeppelin, the title was clearly theirs. The other claimed that Hip Hop, Indie Pop and Grunge clearly revolutioned music as we know it.

I found the whole discussion ridiculous and yet another sign of the desperate state of the music business. It seems that even music critics are more concerned with what box to put artists into than with the most basic element of the whole endeavor: the DAMN MUSIC!

Catagories are by their very nature extremely limiting. Led Zeppelin had their own label - Swan Song - does that make them an indie band? Miles Davis' Live Evil sounds more like Nine Inch Nails than Norah Jones yet both of them are thrown into the same jazz bucket. And let’s not talk about the ‘World’ label. Where does non-world music come from...Jupiter? Yeah, you know like Sun Ra.

I guess we still have not hit rock bottom becasue until people stop thinking about music as some kind of widget or a commodity that needs to be stocked on a shelf, then we won't be able to appreciate what makes music so special - its sound.

Recently I spoke with Esbjörn Svensson, a highly acclaimed Swedish pianist who said, “I don’t think of music in terms of rock, jazz, classical or pop”.

If we need to compartmentalize music to understand it better than we need to approach in terms of its rhythm, melody, instrumentation and feeling.

More on Marco...

2008-05-08T16:50:00.004+02:00

The Trane Station is back again after a slightly more-than-brief hiatus. I thought I would make my comeback by passing on this World Café interview with Marco Benevento. It's an opportunity to get insight into a really innovative artist's way to approach jazz, rock, instrumentation and the creative process in general. Check it out at NPR Music.

Jazz fusion's new disiple

2008-03-19T09:03:00.006+01:00

Marco Benevento is one freaky guy. You have to be in order to manage the mile-wide dashboard of electronic devices that accompany him to any given performance. Benevento takes various ingredients from rock and jazz and blends them together into a musical equivalent of Red Bull.

Check out this interview from the online magazine, All About Jazz for Benevento's take on the creative process and the state of jazz music today.

For a raw, scaled-down version of Marco, have a listen to his live recording from New York City's Tonic released on Ropeadope Records or check out his latest release entitled Invisible Babies.

Down to the root of it

2008-02-28T23:53:00.006+01:00

Droppin’ Science is a new album from Blue Note Records that connects the dots between the worlds of hip-hop, jazz and soul. Even if you have never listened to the Biggie Smalls, A Tribe Called Quest or Biz Markie, you will dig this album because it features some of the greatest soul-jazz artists like Lou Donaldson and Grant Green; all of whom have been sampled extensively in the world of hip-hop.

Take Jeremy Stieg’s funky-flute masterpiece for instance and you can’t help but hear Beastie Boy’s “Get it together”. Lou Donaldson’s sax and organ funkabout, “It’s your Thing” has been sampled by Brand Nubian, De La Soul, Lox, Real Live and even Madonna (OK, I would have NEVER know that if it weren’t for the album liner notes).

So have a listen here and get ready for some funky breaks that a bunch of guys in suits not jerseys are dishin' out.

Records that won’t make kids dumb

2008-02-13T17:08:00.001+01:00

I am a music fanatic; otherwise I wouldn’t risk getting fired from my job or divorced from my wife to write this blog at very inopportune times. I am also the father of a four-month old. During these past months as a new dad, I have discovered that most music for kids has one ambition: to turn impressionable little brains into mushy bowls of oatmeal. There are some glimmers of hope however, so let me share with you a few recommendations currently on rotation in my home:

Let’s Go Everywhere: Medeski, Martin and Wood
Last month, my favorite band in the entire universe released their first album ever aimed their littler fans. The songs on Let’s Go Everywhere have that classic MMW groove but also include some great vocal tracks thanks to Chris’ brother Oliver and some dreamy spoken word readings (check out ‘The Squalb’).

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman: Not for kids only
This album was released only two years before the Grateful Dead frontman’s passing so besides being a great collection of melodies it’s also a great example of Garcia's subdued side. Grisman’s mandolin gives the whole album a bluegrass element but it is the folk-inspired stories that will keep the kids smiling. My favorite tune: There ain’t no bugs on me ('there may be bugs on the rest of you mugs but there ain’t no bugs on me').

Lead Belly sings for Children
If you don’t know about Folkway Records see my previous post on the subject. Originally recorded during the 40’s this is a fabulous collection of children’s rhymes and folk stories all set to Lead Belly’s great traditional blues voice and guitar. Some of the songs include preludes of Mr. Belly joking around with his half-pint audience.

There are other albums too that I can highly recommend including Jack Johnson’s soundtrack to the Curious George film, Carol King’s classic: Really Rosie and finally Baby loves Jazz, a project by Ropeadope founder Andy Horowitz which includes performances by John Medeski (MMW), Sharon Jones (Dap Kings) and Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob) among others.

But if none of the above is your cup of tea then there is always the Barnyardigans and Hanna Montana. I’ll start boiling the water for the oatmeal.

Keep the music alive

2008-02-06T15:54:00.002+01:00

Smithsonian's Folkways is one of America's most important archives of American folk and roots music as well as a cultural and musical treasure. I recently was introduced to some Lead Belly recordings on the label and after some further exploration I was completly blown away.

Folkways Records was founded 1948 and for nearly 40 years released over 2000 folk and “world music” recordings. When its founder Moses Asch died in 1986, the Smithsonian Institution acquired the label and guaranteed to permanently keep the entire collection in print regardless of how many units were sold. Smithsonian Folkways continues to release albums and has become one of the most important distributors of American roots music anywhere.

Just check out a few of these classic releases which include recordings by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly. Folkways also has themed series including The Anthology of American Folk Music, the African American Legacy and a children's series.

The kind of commitment that was made to the Folkways recordings is the same kind of commitment that is needed for another musical and cultural treasure: New Orleans. The lives and music of artists in that city are still in shambels since Katrina and desperately need support. Want to do something? Check out the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund or the Jazz Foundation of America and help keep theirs and our music alive.

My tips for 2008

2008-01-08T14:18:00.000+01:00

Two thousand and seven was a year that saw the passing of several great jazz icons. Austrian-born Joe Zawinul died on September 11, 2007. He helped bridge the worlds of jazz and rock in part during his collaboration with Miles Davis. Alice Coltrane’s passion for eastern spirituality most certainly influenced her husband’s music and jazz lost a piano legend when Oscar Peterson passed just before Christmas.

But despite these losses and the industry’s attempts to catagorically kill off all artistic creativity, music fans still have something to look forward to in the year to come. Let’s start with my absolute favorite trio in the whole wide world, Medeski, Martin and Wood. Today they release, Let’s Go Everywhere, a funky children’s album that will teach the youngins’ how to shake their booties.

Experimental keyboardist, Marco Benevento from the Benevento Russo Duo is also releasing his first solo album entitled, Invisible Bay. Benevento runs with the avant-garde, NYC crowd and his new release is certain to test the physical limits of the electric keyboard.

Lizz Wright’s new album is also set to come out in early 2008. Lizz’s previous albums have been genre-hopping releases that meander through jazz and soul and even blues rearrangements made popular by Led Zeppelin. Her new album, Orchard even includes a great Zep ballad: Thank You. While the jazz world won’t rejoice at another great singer turned pop-idol, this release is still certain to be a welcome contribution.

Cyrus Chestnut always serves up a very soulful set of keys. His most recent release was a tribute to the Elvis Presley and he has a new album due out in the middle of January entitled, Black Nile. The album will be released in Japan and features Al Foster and Buster Williams. Watch out for it when it comes stateside.

These are just a few points of light for the dark winter (hey I’m in Stockholm for god’s sake) but lets hope the music factory turning out ever more great stuff during 2008.

Saving America one song at a time

2007-12-11T13:20:00.001+01:00

(Photo: Eva Axlund)

Last night Bruce Springsteen played to 14 000 raucous Swedes at Stockholm’s Globe Arena. For me, it was a trip back to my home state and the kind of Jersey rock that I grew up with. But what really hit home was the message behind his music.

Throughout the concert, Springsteen kept coming back to his position that over the past six years, America has gone through some enormous change – and mostly for the worse. The set list included pieces like Magic which Bruce describes as a song about the tricks America’s leaders play to “spin lies into truth and truth into lies”. He also played an Irish jig entitled, The American land which is a poignant criticism of American immigration policies. Just check out some of the lyrics:

The McNicholas, the Posalski's, the Smiths, Zerillis, too
The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews
Come across the water a thousand miles from home
With nothin’ in their bellies but the fire down below

They died building the railroads worked to bones and skin
They died in the fields and factories names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago they're still dying now
The hands that built the country were always trying to keep down

In addition, he played a full repertoire of classic working-man songs - the kind that he is famous for including: The Promised Land, Jungleland and Badlands (that’s a of lot of lands; I know).

Springsteen’s mission has always been to tell the common man’s story through his music. And in a time when the common man’s interests are increasingly being pushed aside for well-funded special interests, its voices like his that just may well save our country.

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Another experimental breakthrough

2007-11-30T15:39:00.000+01:00

The Trane Station has got a lot of love for Ropeadope Records, an independent label that has been exploring the musical soul of American cities through a series of collaborative album projects. Their latest release, The Harlem Experiment, is a grand tour of that borough’s ethnic and musical history incorporating elements from jazz and klezmer, latin and blues.

The first part of the album is a lesson in Harlem’s funk heritage with some tight covers of Cameo’s ‘Rigor Mortis’ and Jimmy Castor’s ‘It’s just begun’. After a few tracks though, the album begins to highlight its latin side on ‘Harlem River Drive’ and ‘Mambo a la Savoy’. Those tracks get added street cred’ by having legendary personal like Steve Berrios (Chick Corea) and Ruben Rodriguez (Eddie Palmieri) on board.

In a bit of lesser known trivia, sax-icon Don Byron is actually a klezmer master and shows his chutzpah on ‘Bei Mir Bist du Schoen’ complemented by the exceptional bass work of Ruben Rodriguez. Sex Mob’s Steve Bernstein brings an avant-garde element to, ‘One for Malcom’ – a tribute to Malcom X. And spoken word virtuoso, Mums brings a visual element to the whole album by weaving amazing poems into the music. The album wraps up nicely with a down- home blues groove by Taj Mahal.

The only thing keeping this album from masterpiece status is its lack of a bebop component. Harlem was in fact home to a ridiculously large contingent of jazz legends back in the 40’s and 50’s. Just check out Art Kane’s 1958 photograph entitled, ‘A Great Day in Harlem’ where 58 icons gathered on the steps of a brownstone on 126th Street.

Want my tip for the next musical exposé – The New Jersey Experiment. With musical alumni that includes Wayne Shorter, George Clinton, Bruce Springsteen, Count Basie and Lauryn Hill; this is a place you got to give an album to. All I can do is hope.

What is American roots music?

2007-11-23T16:14:00.001+01:00

Roots music is the artistic equivalent of a primary number. It is the foundation for complex formulas of rhythm and melody that can not be broken down into lesser elements. American immigrants exposed to a wide range of African, Latin and European cultural traditions used these experiences to create completely new musical styles.

True American music is deeply rooted in the unique experience of the country’s diverse ethnic groups. In 2001, a PBS documentary defined these American Roots music to be blues, country, bluegrass, gospel, Zydeco, Tejano and Native American music. To this I would add jazz and hip-hop.

Music from the countryside
Early immigrants from the British Isles brought with them Celtic folk music and story telling traditions. Once in America they began incorporating experiences from their new home as well as the spiritual sounds of African slaves. These immigrants spread themselves throughout the rural areas of the central Appalachian and their musical styles became known as “mountain music” or “country music”. Bluegrass became the branch of this musical genre to retain a more improvisational and blues-rooted style.

Cajuns and Creoles are unique ethnic groups in America who created their own musical traditions. According to the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center, Creoles are a people of mixed French, African, Spanish, and Native American ancestry with familial ties to Louisiana. Zydeco is the music of Creoles. Influenced by the French musical traditions of Acadians who from fled Nova Scotia to Louisiana (and became known as Cajuns), the music became influenced over time by English, Spanish, Native American and African culture. Zydeco centers around accordion-driven melodies but its rhythms are clearly from African and Native America traditions.

Music in the city
American black culture has and continues to have an undeniably profound impact upon American music. Black slaves brought with them rhythms and melodies from Africa which became the core elements of spirituals and work songs which in turn developed into gospel and blues. Upbeat blues progressions then became the foundation for ragtime giving birth to one of the greatest American music traditions - jazz.

While upbeat jazz-inspired music became THE popular music in the early part of the 1900’s it was the more improvisational style that black musicians played in the after hours that was the inspiration for jazz pioneers like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington.

The most recent American musical tradition to develop is also the one that is the most uniquely African American. Originating in Harlem’s dance clubs in the 1970s, hip hop has grown to incorporate almost every musical style there is but its most basic elements are still firmly rooted in rap and funk-inspired drum rhythms.

Although it has spread throughout the world hip hop is a form of social expression that is still uniquely American.

Swedish jazz fights for its existence

2007-11-17T11:14:00.001+01:00

It is no secret that Stockholm is a European center for music, it is just that most of that music follows in the footsteps of pop-legends ABBA. However, there was a time when Stockholm was a Mecca for jazz and live improvisational music.

(Photo courtesy of ABF Stockholm)

Back in the sixties, clubs like Gyllene Cirkeln attracted American jazz icons almost nightly and there was tight collaboration between international and Swedish artists.If you walked into the Gyllene Cirkel on a cold autumn night back in 1962 you might have caught jazz-legend Dexter Gordon together with some of Sweden’s finest rhythm men like Sture Nordin and Rune Carlsson as they played in the ABF-building’s smoke-filled ballroom. Back then artists played week long gigs where dozens of different jazz musicians would gather to exchange ideas and inspirations from both sides of the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, after a decade of incredible collaborations, Gyllene Cirkel eventually ceased to exist. In the years since, the live music scene in Stockholm has changed dramatically as the forces of big-business, pop-culture and modern society have done their best to stamp the remaining life out of improvisational musical development.

At the end of 2005, Mondo, a popular venue for live, improvisational music, declared bankruptcy after it lost its liquor license. A few months later Lydmar Hotel, a well-established scene for jazz, soul and hip-hop, was forced to close its doors after the building owners decided that a bank office would be a much better use of the space than a legendary center for creativity and performance.

“The Stockholm live-music scene is almost dead and it seems as if everyone is doing their best to try and kill it off,” says Ingmari Pagenkemper, who before it closed was responsible for booking acts like The Jungle Brothers and Isaac Hayes to the Lydmar Hotel.

“Audiences have become lazy and spoiled. People get their entertainment through the Internet and TV, so it is increasingly harder to get them to go out and buy a ticket if they don’t know exactly what to expect,” Pagenkemper says.

As always, the necessary evil that keeps the ship floating but can also run it into the rocks, and send it to the bottom of the ocean, is money.

Venues take big financial risks when they book new or upcoming artists. A few mistakes can bankrupt a place. For this reason, according to Pagenkemper, a lot of venues have chosen more mainstream acts over lesser known artists because there is a greater chance they will make a profit.

This is what has happened at the Stockholm Jazz Festival whose recent headliners have included stars like Lauren Hill, Kayne West and Sting under the “jazz” headline.

Pagenkemper is well aware that events like the Stockholm Jazz Festival need to be run as businesses but she doesn’t agree with the way they are managing the music. “They think this is their way to reach a new generation and new target groups. I think it is necessary to find new audiences but they are going about it the wrong way. It is a disaster for the improvisational music scene”.

Pagenkemper sees collaboration as the way to breathe life and inspiration into the live music scene.

“At Lydmar one of my passions was to bring foreign artists together with Swedish producers and musicians, where they could exchange ideas or go into a studio together. It was greatly appreciated by both foreign artists and Swedish producers alike”.

This is the same concept that Gyllene Cirkeln used back in the sixties when Stockholm was a European center for live, improvisational music. With international and local artists constantly exchanging ideas the music and creative scene in Stockholm blossomed.

This article orginally appreared on an english-language, Swedish news site called The Local.

The new young lions

2007-11-13T20:54:00.001+01:00

While some people spend their working days putting together fantasy football teams, I rack my brain thinking about the dream team of jazz musicians.

To start, my first round draft pick has to go to John Scofield. He is an amazing band leader who fosters young talent much in the way Miles used to do. He is also an amazing artist who is not afraid to incorporate new techniques and sounds into his playing.

Like gravy on biscuits, John Medeski is the perfect compliment to Scofield (see ‘John + John = monumental jazz’). He is a versatile keyboardist who plays everything from New Orleans funk to Klezmer jazz with mind-blowing virtuosity. His Hammond B3 playing alone earns him a lifetime spot on my dream team.

Bass players beware, my man Charlie Hunter is going to take your job. Thing is, Charlie is a guitar player – an eight-string guitar guru to be more specific. He plays amazing bass, rhythm and lead all on the same instrument and challenges the traditional paradigms of jazz. Charlie has unfathomable technical skill and is one funky mofo to boot.

However, I still have a special place in my heart for masters of the four-string groove machine. The bass is the backbone of any band and no one keeps the bottom-end tighter than Christian McBride. He is the ultimate session man, playing everything from straight ahead bop to jazz-rock fusion. To hear a full exposé of his talent, check out his Live at Tonic recording on Ropeadope.

This is my starting line-up but there are a host of other fantastic artists that would be my goto guys on the sideline. Guys like DJ Logic who has built some incredible bridges between the worlds of jazz and hip-hop. Drummer Stanton Moore, who as a member of Galactic and as a solo artist, has done plenty to keep the sound of New Orleans alive. Saxophonist Skerik brings us all of the great adventurism of avant-garde jazz without all of the dissonance and finally trumpeter Roy Hargrove and RH Factor make sure electric Miles lives on.

They are plenty more über-talented musicians but these guys really define the soulful, jazz-funk sound I have come to love. With the exception of Scofield they are not icons yet or but are still well on their way to becoming household names.

Jersey's finest

2007-11-09T15:15:00.000+01:00

Springsteen is New Jersey’s hope, its patron saint. Bruce stayed in Jersey when the other celebrities left and his songs have become anthems for those of us born somewhere off the Garden State Parkway. We Jersey-folk love him for his music but even more because we share a common set of experiences

‘The Boss’ is a small-town boy from Freehold, NJ which means he probably smelled those same sulphur fumes emanating from the Meadowlands. He sings about Asbury Park’s decaying facades and has surely driven past the miles of low-rent apartment complexes and tinted-glass corporate parks that line the highways.

Bruce’s song’s are gritty and speak directly to the average working schlep. He sings to the clerk, the toll collector and the guy pumping your gas. And up until a few years ago he still used to play unannounced gigs at the Stony Pony – a tiny hole-in-the-wall bar on the Jersey shore.

Springsteen’s songs are universal. It doesn’t matter if you are a country fan or a metalhead; every self-respecting Jersey-boy has a place in his heart for ‘The Boss’. Next month, Bruce will play a concert in Stockholm, Sweden, my adopted home away from home and for us Jerseyites in diaspora – a Bruce gig is the perfect cure for the homesick blues.

John + John = monumental jazz

2007-11-08T20:25:00.001+01:00

On their own, John Scofield and John Medeski are two of the most prolific artists on the improvisational scene today – together, they represent one of the greatest musical collaborations in modern jazz.

Guitarist Scofield and keyboardist Medeski have had a rich collaboration spanning three albums and nearly ten years. Billed as The Johns, they wrapped up this year’s Stockholm Jazz Festival with an energetic two-hour set at the famed jazz club Fasching.

While both artists have very distinctive personalities on their instruments, the Fasching performance showcased one finely-tuned musical machine that delivered a repertoire of original arrangements, skillfully covering a range of styles from blues and bop to gospel and funk.

Scofield and Medeski first collaborated on the 1998 release A Go Go - an album that because of the keyboardist’s popularity with the jam-band scene brought Scofield in touch with a much broader and younger base of fans. Since then, Medeski as well as band mates Billy Martin and Chris Wood have had a rich creative exchange with the guitarist culminating the 2006 release, Out Louder.

On stage, Medeski played as if he were a mad scientist – sampling a little piano here and a little organ there, sometimes mixing it all together. Scofield is a bit more subdued, but did explode in bursts of energy when he got into his arsenal of effects, loops and other pedals.

Though the years there have been many great collaborations: Ellington and Strayhorn, Miles and Coltrane, Shorter and Zawinul. Though the Johns have not yet earned their place among these giants, their collective talents make it a not too distant possibility.

(Photos taken by me at the 2007 Stockholm Jazz Festival)

The Trane Station

2007-11-08T16:06:00.000+01:00

The Trane Station is a discussion about the institution of improvisational music and its power to inspire, amaze and make you shake your bones.

Improvisation is at the core of American roots music – a genre that includes jazz, blues, hip-hop, soul, gosepl and bluegrass; to name just a few. It is a genre that is constantly reinventing itself and has been since the times of Scott Joplin and Robert Johnson.

My mission is support this institution through an active dialog about its music and the people creating its sound.

/David