George Robert - Swiss Master

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

It is always great fun to encounter a musician who is new to you and whose music moves your ears in different directions.

Such was the case for me with the Swiss-born alto/soprano saxophonist and clarinetist George Robert [“row-bear”-  if you are looking for a pronunciation of his last name that is closer to the French].

George’s career had been underway for some time before I discovered his work, initially due to Philip Barker’s production of George’s Tribute CD in 1994 for his Jazz Focus label [JFCD 004]. George’s quintet on this recording featured Italian pianist Dado Moroni.

I became a great fan of Dado’s playing and a few years later Philip and I co-produced Out of the Night: The Dado Moroni Trio on Jazz Focus [JFCD 032].

Philip had compiled discographies of the recordings of both George and Dado from which I learned of the 1993 recording, George Robert with The Metropole Orchestra Conducted by Rob Pronk [Mons CD 876-993], and two other CDs by George from around the same period: a collaboration between George and Dado entitled Youngbloods [1992, Mons CD 1897] and The George Robert Quartet Featuring Mr. Clark Terry [1990, TCB 90802].

It wasn’t until March, 1999 when I was in Seattle for the recordings sessions of Dado’s Out of the Night that Bill Goodwin, the drummer on the date, hipped me to two records by George that are among my enduring favorites. George made these with a quintet that he co-led with trumpeter Tom Harrell and which existed for about three years as a working group with a rhythm section made up of Dado on piano, Reggie Johnson on bass and Bill on drums.

These are Sun Dance: The Tom Harrell - George Robert Quintet [Contemporary CCD 14037-2] and Lonely Eyes: The George Robert - Tom Harrell Quintet [GPR 1002]. Bill Goodwin produced both dates.

Dan Morgenstern, the esteemed Jazz author and the Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University [now retired], penned the insert notes to both recordings.

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles wrote to Dan requesting permission to reproduce them as part of this feature which he very graciously granted.

Together, Dan’s writings will provide you with a comprehensive and informative introduction to the engaging and exciting music of George Robert.

© -Dan Morgenstern: used with the author’s permission; copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Sundance

“At this moment in time, nothing is more important to jazz than the presence of gifted young players who know and love the true language of the music and are committed to its continuation. The list of such musicians, happily, has been growing of late, and on the evidence of this splendid record, we can safely add to it the name of George Robert.

What this young man has put together here is a band - not just a bunch of guys who met in a studio and went through the motions, but a musical collective made up of players who think and feel together, listen to each other and make their own music.

A finely matched blend of seasoned veterans and young comers is what we have here, and there may be something symbolic in the fact that the former are Americans and the latter Europeans - though the time when you could tell most European jazzmen by their accent is long since past, they still take their inspiration from this side of the pond.

Yet, for Swiss-born George Robert, jazz is something that came quite naturally, from his home environment. His American-born mother's love for jazz was shared by his father, five brothers and two sisters; the boys all played instruments, and formed a family band. George started piano at 8, took up clarinet at 10, and studied with Luc Hoffmann at a distinguished conservatory in his native Geneva.

"I would always hear jazz records at home.”' he said, "and I feel that my ears got a solid foundation from that, at a very early stage. Later on, I met a lot of American musicians passing through Geneva and played sessions with them at my home. Among them, Jimmy Woode, Sam Woodyard, and Billy Hart really encouraged me when I was just 13 or 14. And studying classical clarinet gave me discipline, control and technique that were most helpful when I picked up the saxophone."

Among the alto players who influenced young George were Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, and Cannonball Adderley. "They all had an influence,”' he recalled, "but when ! was about 14, a Phil Woods album, Alive & Well in Paris, really caught my ear - his gorgeous sound was the first thing that attracted me.”'

Subsequently, other aspects of Woods's playing - "his lyricism, impeccable time, total command of the instrument, and beautiful musical conception" -made their impact on him, but he stressed that "besides his unique artistry, there's his commitment to the music, setting a very high standard that is so inspiring to a young musician...  I love Phil.”

A few years after coming to the U.S. in the fall of 1980 to study at Berklee, George even took a few lesson with Woods, but his major at Berklee was composing and arranging. "What was most important about my time there was being able to study with Joseph Viola - the best teacher I've ever had and an exceptional person, who taught me so much about the saxophone. Andy McGhee was very helpful and encouraging too." During this period, George played lead alto in several big band and honed his writing skills: "My masters have always been Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Oliver Nelson, and Horace Silver. "

In 1985, George moved to New York, having accepted a scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, from which he obtained a master's degree in 1987. He played lead alto in the MSM Big Band, but there was professional as well as academic experience. In 1984, his quartet received an "Outstanding performance" award from Down Beat and performed at the Montreux jazz Festival. In 1985, he worked with bassist Ray Drummond in Finland and recorded his first album, with Ron McClure on bass, Niels Lan Doky on piano, and Klaus Suonsaari on drums, for his own GPR label. In 1986, he performed at the American Music Festival in New York with Buster Williams and old friend Billy Hart; the same year found him in the company of Buster Williams, Billy Higgins and the wonderful Italian pianist heard on this album, Dado Moroni, at the Cully Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

The group heard here was formed in the spring of 1987 and toured in Switzerland and France; the album was recorded in Lausanne during the tour. Another European tour was set for the spring of '88, along with some summer festival appearances.

“I’ve always admired Tom, both as a player and a composer; to have him next to me is a great inspiration", the leader said. The two horns get a beautiful blend, and have a very special way of interacting, notably in the interludes of collective improvisation that are a feature of the band. "Jimmy Woode introduced me to Dado in 1985, and since then, I've always worked with him. He's a wonderful pianist. His touch is just superb, and the way he comps is a rare gift." This young man moved to Amsterdam in 1986, and I've not the slightest doubt that we'll hear much from and about him. Bassist Reggie Johnson, with whom George had worked before, was the perfect choice. "Reggie is an exceptional musician and the ideal bassist for us - we love him. And Bill has been a friend for a long time. I think he's one of the most musical drummers around." Goodwin's outstanding solo on the title cut proves that statement, and his experience as a record producer came in handy as well. In a varied program of uniformly excellent originals by Robert and Harrell, the band strikes a happy balance between ensemble and solo strength. The leader gets a fine, full sound from both his alto and soprano (he handles the latter with a fluency that reflects his clarinet training) and tells a story when he plays. So does Harrell, surely one of the most underrated and underpublicized trumpeters of our time (and quite a flugelhornist, too). The rhythm section is a delight, with a real feeling for not only time but also dynamics, and works hand-in-glove with the multihued horns.

"We always play acoustic jazz," said Robert. "That's the way we want it... to preserve the true sound of each instrument."

When you sound as good as these five guys, there's no need for artifice. This music speaks for itself; it swings and sings and it's always alive. We look forward to hearing more from George Robert and company - a new branch on the tree of jazz with exceptionally solid roots.”

Dan Morgenstern Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University

Lonely Eyes

“This is the second album by what is unquestionably one of the best groups on the contemporary jazz scene. This is music that radiates togetherness and reflects George Robert's statement that the quintet, together since the spring of 1987, "is like a family; everybody loves working with one another... the chemistry is there".

Indeed it is, and the music here surpasses the excellence of the quintet's impressive debut on records (Sun Dance : Contemporary C-14037), which received critical acclaim from all comers of the jazz spectrum.

As on that first record, the quintet here presents its own music. All the compositions are originals from within the group-five by Robert, three by Harrell, and one by the band's youngest member, pianist Dado Moroni - and they are not just sketches on blues or "Rhythm" changes, but genuine pieces of music with an impressive variety of moods and textures. The quintet achieves its own identity and freshness, but it does so without artifice or self-conscious striving for novelty or effect. Clearly, there is a shared language among all its members, a language solidly rooted but never mired in the jazz tradition. The music flows with a natural ease that is a pleasure to hear.

The horns of the co-leaders are splendidly matched, both in ensemble and solo roles. Doubling and skillfully varied writing allow for a textural variety quite amazing for a small group. Harrell, who finally seems to be getting some of the credit long due him as one of the most original and consistently excellent creative improvisers of our time, plays trumpet and flugelhorn and gets his own sound, at once warm and brilliant, from both. Robert's main horn is the alto sax, from which he gets a strong, personal sound, but he also has mastered the soprano and the clarinet (the latter his first horn after starting music on the piano, and heard here with the quintet for the first time on record). These two have marvelous rapport; truly together in ensemble unison, harmony or interplay, and feeding off each other in solo excursions.

The rhythm section is always finely attuned to its supporting tasks, which are far from routine-this group deals with subtle rhythmic as well as harmonic demands-but it seems inaccurate to describe this dynamic triumvirate as a mere "rhythm section". The greatly gifted Moroni is not only a wonderfully sensitive and alert accompanist, but adds solo strength (his modal ballad Adrienne reveals talent as a composer as well). Reggie Johnson's impeccable intonation and rhythmic strength would be enough, but he also steps out as a soloist, and when he does, it's not in the obligatory manner of giving the bassist some, but with lucidly musical (and never over-long) statements. Master percussionist Bill Goodwin is always there, adding colors and textures to the quintet's overall sonic meld and providing the kind of absolute rhythmic security that allows everyone to relax and play without fear of falling off the wire. On this album, Bill modestly restrains his solo role, but when he steps front and center, he makes musical sense.

There isn't a weak link in this group, and there isn't a weak track on this program. Robert's Quest for Peace and The Long Trail are parts of his "American Indian Suite"; the title track of the group's debut album rounds out this fine composition. Trail, with its haunting minor theme, has a rhythmic feel that reflects the suite's inspiration; Robert observed a ritual dance in Wyoming. It's heartening (and indicative of the universal character of jazz) that such quintessentially American music was created by a Swiss-born musician who came to the U.S. in 1980. On this piece, and elsewhere as well, Robert shows his skill at constructing solos that build in intensity and have a beginning and an end - too many players start hot and wind up with nowhere to go.

Another facet of Robert's writing is Lonely Eyes, a most attractive ballad in 3/4 ; Harrell is beautifully expressive here, both lyrical and abstract, and Robert shows he knows how to "sing" a melody. His Sensual Winds has a bossa flavor and gives us a taste of his clarinet, fluent and lively. And One for Thad is a loving tribute to one of Robert's major influences, the late Thad Jones. With a shuffle rhythm and gospel feel, it also contains the elements of surprise and humor that were part and parcel of Jones's special genius. Robert plays soprano on this (also in keeping with Thad's legacy); he keeps it in tune and displays, as on all his horns, a fine tonal quality.

Harrell weighs in with the fetching Opaling, somehow reminiscent of Tadd Dameron, but Tom's no copycat. These guys know their changes. Visions of Gaudi, inspired by the works of the visionary and eccentric Spanish architect, is a relaxed samba with lovely, open horn voicings and gently emotional solo work. The third Harrell opus, Coral Sea, presents yet another hue in the palette of this versatile ensemble : flugel and low-register clarinet combine most warmly and attractively. Robert gets a beautiful sound in the chalumeau register, and the piece ebbs and swells like the tide.

This remarkable quintet has now been together, at this writing, for more than two years; 1989 began with a successful European tour, to be followed by one of the U.S. and Canada, and another of Europe. As this record shows, they just keep getting better. "This band is committed to keep working together", says Robert.

Congratulations, gentlemen - and please do stay together ! We need you to keep the jazz flame burning bright.”

Dan Morgenstern

Director, Institute of Jazz Studies,

Rutgers University

The following video tribute to George features a track from his Tribute Jazz Focus CD on which he performs with Oliver Gannon, guitar, Dado Moroni, piano, Reggie Johnson, bass and George Ursan, drums. The tune is Kenny Barron’s Voyage.

A Portrait of Clark Terry As A Young Man [From the Archives]

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

With apologies to James Joyce for modifying his book title, I’ve always enjoyed this story about the young Clark Terry as told by Gene Lees.

“Clark Terry was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 14, 1920, the son of a laborer at Laclede Gas and Light Company, the seventh of eleven children, seven of them girls. Before Clark's birth, one girl died. Clark's brothers never escaped the destiny of their father. Clark alone did. …

I'd known about the garden hose for years.

"I must have been ten, eleven years old," Clark said. "Twelve, maybe. My older sister's husband, Cy McField, played tuba in the Dewey Jackson band — Dewey Jackson's Musical Ambassadors — at a place called Sauter's Park in Carondolet in South St. Louis. That's where I was born.

“The park was all Caucasian. We were not allowed to go in there. Us kids, we'd walk down there, about three miles. Walk down to the end of Broadway, the county line. We'd stand up on something behind the bandstand and we'd listen to the band that way.

"I remember one cat who played in Dewey Jackson's band, Mr. Latimore. He was a big, huge guy, played lead trumpet. He used to like me and my brother-in-law used to take me to all the rehearsals. He'd say, 'Son, you can watch my horn.' And I'd say, "Oh thank you,' and I'd literally sit there and watch his horn. After so many rehearsals, I became very, very close to him. He owned a candy store, and he always kept a pocket full of caramels and mary janes, and he'd give me a couple of caramels and a couple of mary janes and sometimes a couple of pennies. He was the greatest cat in the world, so I wanted to play the horn he played. I'm glad he wasn't a banjo player!

"So one time they went on a break. He said, 'You watch my horn.' I said, 'Okay, Mr. Latimore,' and by the time they came back, I had been magnetically drawn to this horn, huffin' and puffin' away, trying to make a sound. And he walked in. He said, ‘Ah, son, you're gonna be a trumpet player.' And I've always said, 'And I was stupid enough to believe him.'

“That, plus the fact that on the corner called Iron Street and Broadway, near where I lived, there was a Sanctified church. We used to sit on the curb and let those rhythms be instilled in us." Banging a beat with his hands, he sang against it a strong churchy passage. "You know, with the tambourines, and the people dancin' and jiggin' and all that. That was as much as you needed to be instilled with the whole thing.

"We had this little band. We used to play on the corner. My first thing was a comb and tissue paper. The paper vibrates. Then I came across a kazoo, which is the same principle. Later on in my life, we had to have kazoos as standard equipment in the studio. Sometimes we would have do little things when you were record­ing for different commercial products.

"We had a guy named Charlie Jones — we called him Bones - who used to play an old discarded vacuum hose, wound around his neck like a tuba, into a beer mug." Clark sang a buzzy bass line in imitation, mostly roots and fifths. "It was a better sound than the jug." The jug of course was the old earthenware jug used in country music and jazz.

"We had a cat who played the jug, too. With the two of them, we had a good solid foundation. My brother Ed played — we called him Shorts, he was a little short cat — played the drums. He took the rungs out of some old chairs for sticks. In those days we didn't have refrigeration, we had ice boxes, and when the pan wore out, started leaking and got rusty, it would sound just like a snare. They had those tall bushel baskets in those days, I haven't seen one in a long time. He'd turn one of those upside down and hang the old discarded ice pan on the side and take the chair rungs and keep a rhythm like that. He got an old washtub and put a brick and fixed it so he could beat it." Clark laughed that delicious and slightly conspiratorial laugh of his as he pounded a beat.

I said, "He sounds like some kind of a genius."

"Yeah!" Clark said. "He was. Well, I got an old piece of a hose one day and coiled it up and got some wire and tied it so that it stuck up in three places so it would look like valves. I took a discarded kerosene funnel and that was my bell. I got a little piece of lead pipe — we didn't realize in those days that there was lead poisoning — and that was my mouthpiece."

It struck me that Clark had invented a primitive bugle, on which he could presumably play the overtones.

"Yeah!" he said. "By the time I got into the drum and bugle corps, I had already figured out the system like the Mexican mariachi players use. They were taught back in those days to play the mouthpiece first."

He did a rhythmic tonguing like a mariachi player, then pressed his lips together and buzzed. "After a while I figured out how to change the pitch." Pursing his lips, he did a glissando, up one octave and down, flawlessly. "And then they could do that with the mouthpiece. After you got the mouthpiece under control, and you got a bugle, you could play notes. You could make all the notes that went from one harmonic to the other."

Never having seen Clark teach, I realized what makes him such an incredible — and so he is reputed — pedagogue, and why young people who study with him worship him. And all of it is communicated with laughter and a sense of adventure.”

One of the earliest Jazz long-playing records I ever heard was a Emarcy sampler which included a track from Clark Terry’s first album as a leader. The tune is entitled Swahili which I found out many years later was co-composed by Clark and Quincy Jones.

I’ve used it as the audio track for the following video tribute to Clark.  On it, Clark is joined by trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne, pianist Horace Silver, Oscar Pettiford on cello, bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Art Blakey.

Chris Potter: A Saxophonist With His Own Voice [From the Archives]

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

 "Chris was in my composition class at the New School [for Jazz and Contemporary Music, NYC] for about a year. When he called me for a private lesson, I had no idea how he played. We started with a bebop tune; but he went further out on the second thing we played, and on the third tune he was playing in the language of my contemporaries, guys who grew up following all of Miles' bands and aspiring to the kind of spiritual strivings that defined Coltrane's music. By the fourth tune, I wanted to take a lesson from Chris."

- Kenny Wheeler, Jazz pianist

“I try not to allow myself any preconceived ideas of what I should sound like, what kind of music I ought to be writing, or what I ought to be listening to. In this way I hope to discover what I actually do sound like, and what I enjoy in music. The moments of greatest beauty and originality always seem to happen when there's no agenda.”

- Chris Potter, Jazz saxophonist

“Potter is growing into one of the major saxophonists of today. [He is an] astonishingly confident and full-bodied player and shows prowess on any of his chosen horns, each of which he plays in a muscular post-bop manner that are full of surprising twists ….” [Paraphrase]

- Richard Cook, Brian Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6^th Ed.

“He’s something special. It’s funny. Of all the youngsters out there today, they didn’t find out about Chris until after all the ballyhoo. But he’s the man.”

- Red Rodney, Jazz trumpeter

I’ve always had a lot of respect for the late Jazz trumpeter, Red Rodney, both as a person and as a musician for reasons that will be discussed at length in a future JazzProfiles feature about him.

I’m also always on the lookout for “new voices” on the Jazz scene.

So when I heard Red Rodney declare during a radio interview words very similar to the ones in the following quotation, I paid attention.

I’m glad I did because it helped me discover the Jazz saxophone playing of Chris Potter sooner, rather than later, and I have really enjoyed making the journey “with him” over the past twenty years or so as he has become one of the premier saxophonists in today’s Jazz world.

Here’s what Red had to say about Chris:

“I first played with Chris Potter at the South Carolina Main Street Jazz Festival, an annual thing we do. Three years ago the producer said, we've got our young hot shot here. Every town has one so I said, yeah, OK. Not to be nasty I let him play a tune. Well he wound up playing the whole set.

This young kid knew everything, the entire repertoire. He was not quite eighteen then, but very mature. He went on to win a Presidential scholarship for academic and musical excellence. He also won the Zoot Sims scholarship for the New School, and the Hennesey Jazz Search scholarship. I told him, when you come to New York, call me and I would introduce him around.

Coincidentally, he called just as Dick Oatts was leaving. Dick Oatts had been in my band for five years after Ira Sullivan. So I asked this young man to come and play with us and he's been there ever since.

Everywhere we go, he just breaks it up. This young man is mature. I think with a young man like Chris, you have to let him alone. You have to nurture him but let him do it his way. Eventually he'll swallow the world. In addition, he's a great pianist. We could have recorded a piano solo by him and he would have played beautifully. And he's also a writer.

His style is highly original but, he absorbs something from everyone. He is not, however, like many young ones are, a Coltrane or Michael Brecker clone. That's very important because the main idea of Jazz is to become original, to gain your own style. This is the epitome of Jazz.

When you hear Clark Terry, in two bars or four bars, you know who it is. The same for Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker. There are so many others that you can tell within two or four bars, you know them immediately. That's what I've always tried to get in my playing. If it's original, you've succeeded.

So when you find a youngster like Chris Potter who develops his own style, it's wonderful.” – Red Rodney [as told to Bret Primack].

Following Red’s radio interview, I searched out Chris Potter’s first CD under his own name which Gerry Teekens appropriately entitled: Presenting Chris Potter [#1067].

Neil Tesser insert notes to the CD contain the following observations about Chris’ uniqueness:

“In the current proliferation of baby-faced jazz musicians — many of them gifted, and almost all of them hitting the ground with far more training than their counterparts of earlier generations — we can certainly grant the modern listener a certain skepticism. A well-earned reserve. An instinctive tendency to survey the landscape and wonder where the hell so many similarly skilled youngsters came from. Can they all be that good? What does it take for a musician to rise above the rest, to leave an imprint on the music as a whole? And how soon can such a player really establish himself as a leader of this pack?

At the heart of such conjecturing stands the unpretentious young saxophonist named Chris Potter, who with this album makes his five-star debut as a leader. …

"He's been with me three years now," brags [trumpeter] Red Rodney (warming to the role of surrogate father). "I watched him grow. When he got to New York, he went all over, listened to everybody, soaked it up like a sponge — then spit it out like Chris Potter.

He has his own sound, his own style, and his time is by God sensational. Every place I bring him all over the world, people just stand up and cheer, and he's not the kind of player who plays screech music for that kind of attention; he gets it by sheer artistry."

Ah, youth.

And yet, Potter invites and survives comparisons with musicians who have three times his experience. Two days shy of his 22nd birthday at the time of this recording, he shows a maturity in his improvising, as well as his writing, that obliterates the qualifiers attached to so many in jazz's youth movement. Potter doesn't play well "for a 22-year-old"; he plays well, period.

He brings to each of his saxes a separate personality and the makings of a distinct and recognizable tone, in each case descending from his first horn: his tenor work has a comparatively light timbre — more alto-like — and his soprano sounds rich and full. What's more, Potter doesn't restrict himself to the bebop and post-bop idioms favored by so many of his contemporaries; he frequently edges a solo outside the expected boundaries, yet always with ‘form and structure, and a melodic bent’ in the words of Red Rodney.

Beyond anything else, Potter improvises like someone with an ancient soul; on each tune, he spins a knowing, patient, and yet excited and exploratory solo. He finds deeply effective melodies everywhere and at any tempo, ….”

As is the case with many of today’s Jazz artists, Chris has his own website which you can locate by going here. It contains a full discography, a number of videos and photographs and lots more information about his career including the following overview of his career written by the highly respected Jazz writer, Bill Milkowski.

At the conclusion of Bill’s retrospective, you will find two videos containing audio tracks that provide samples of Chris’ powerful saxophone work. The first of these is a tribute to Chris which features him along with trumpeter Ryan Kisor on Charles Mingus’ Boogie Stop Shuffle.  The second has Chris performing his original composition Juggernaut with John Swana on trumpet as the audio track to a feature on The Art of Jazz Drumming, Part 2.

We’ve also included Bret Primack’s video “interview” with Chris entitled Way Out in the Southwest [you can close out of the commercial at the outset of the video by clicking on the “X” in the upper-right hand corner] and two videos from the Jazz Open Stuttgart concert of December 22, 2010 on which you can hear and see Chris performing Duke Ellington’s The Single Petal of a Rose and his own composition, The Wheel, with his current group, Underground.

 “A world-class soloist, accomplished composer and formidable bandleader, saxophonist Chris Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. Down Beat called him "One of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet" while Jazz Times identified him as "a figure of international renown." Jazz sax elder statesman Dave Liebman called him simply, "one of the best musicians around," a sentiment shared by the readers of Down Beat in voting him second only to tenor sax great Sonny Rollins in the magazine's 2008 Readers Poll.

A potent improviser and the youngest musician ever to win Denmark's Jazzpar Prize, Potter's impressive discography includes 15 albums as a leader and sideman appearances on over 100 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his solo work on "In Vogue," a track from Joanne Brackeen’s 1999 album Pink Elephant Magic, and was prominently featured on Steely Dan’s Grammy-winning album from 2000, Two Against Nature. He has performed or recorded with many of the leading names in jazz, such as Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, John Scofield, the Mingus Big Band, Jim Hall, Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Ray Brown and many others. 

His most recent recording, Ultrahang, is the culmination thus far of five years’ work with his Underground quartet with Adam Rogers on guitar, Craig Taborn on Fender Rhodes, and Nate Smith on drums. Recorded in the studio in January 2009 after extensive touring, it showcases the band at its freewheeling yet cohesive best.

Since bursting onto the New York scene in 1989 as an 18-year-old prodigy with bebop icon Red Rodney (who himself had played as a young man alongside the legendary Charlie Parker), Potter has steered a steady course of growth as an instrumentalist and composer-arranger. Through the '90s, he continued to gain invaluable bandstand experience as a sideman while also making strong statements as a bandleader-composer-arranger. Acclaimed outings like 1997’s Unspoken (with bassist and mentor Dave Holland, drummer Jack DeJohnette and guitarist John Scofield), 1998’s Vertigo, 2001’s Gratitude and 2002’s Traveling Mercies showed a penchant for risk-taking and genre-bending. "For me, it just seemed like a way of opening up the music to some different things that I had been listening to but maybe hadn’t quite come out in my music before," he explains.

Potter explored new territory on 2004’s partly electric Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard (with bassist Scott Colley, drummer Bill Stewart and keyboardist Kevin Hays) then pushed the envelope a bit further on 2006’s Underground (with guitarist Wayne Krantz, electric pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Nate Smith). As he told Jazz Times: "I've wanted to do something more funk-related...music that seems to be in the air, all around us. But also keep it as free as the freest jazz conception."

He continued in this electrified, groove-oriented vein with 2007’s Follow The Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard (with guitarist Adam Rogers replacing Krantz in the lineup). Says Potter of the adventurous new path he’s carved out for himself with his bass-less Underground quartet: “There was a point where I felt like the context I had been using before wasn’t quite working to express what I wanted or to move forward in some kind of way. My aesthetic as a saxophonist has always been based in Bird and Lester Young and Sonny Rollins and all the other greats on the instrument. What I’ve learned from them in terms of phrasing, sound, and approach to rhythm I’ll never outgrow. However music’s a living thing; it has to keep moving. I’ve been touched by many forms of music, like funk, hip hop, country, folk music, classical music, etc., and for me not to allow these influences into my music would be unnecessarily self-limiting. The difficulty is incorporating these sounds in an organic, unforced way. It helps me to remember I want people to feel the music, even be able to dance to it, and not think of it as complicated or forbidding. If I can play something that has meaning for me, maybe I’ll be able to communicate that meaning to other people, and the stylistic questions will answer themselves.”

With the ambitious Song For Anyone (released in 2007 also and dedicated to the memory of Michael Brecker), Potter flexes his muscles as an arranger on original material for an expanded ensemble featuring strings and woodwinds. "That was a learning process," he says of this triumphant tentet project, "because I hadn’t done anything on that scale before. I just decided to sit down and write, and it was extremely gratifying to see how it translated into live performance."

Looking back over his 20 years since arriving in New York, Potter says, “I’ve had the chance to learn a lot from all the leaders that I’ve worked with. Each gave me another perspective on how to organize a band and make a statement. It’s taught me that any approach can work, as long as you have a strong vision of what you want to do.”

His initial gig with Red Rodney was an eye-opening and educational experience for the 18-year-old saxophonist. “I wish I had had the perspective I have now to appreciate what a larger-than-life character Red was.” Potter's years with Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band represented a wholly different approach from Rodney’s old school bebop aesthetic on stage. “Motian has really had a big affect on the way that I think about music,” says the saxophonist. “He approaches things from such an anti-analytical way. It’s so different than so many of the other musicians that I’ve had a chance to work with. Motian more relies on his aesthetic sensibility and his instinct. He’s basically just trusting his gut and he’s so strong about it that he can make it work. And it takes a lot of courage to do that.”

From bassist-bandleader Dave Holland he learned about the importance of focus and willpower. "Dave is determined to make his music as strong as possible and present it in the best way," says Potter, who has been a member of Holland's groups for the past 10 years. "Playing with him, you have the feeling there’s this mountain standing behind you that you can completely rely on. Working with him over the years has helped me see the true value of believing in what you’re doing.”

Potter also cites his time on the bandstand with guitar legend Jim Hall as inspirational. “The way that he can be both melodic and sweet and deeply inventive and open-minded at the same time made a big impression on me," he says. Touring and recording with the enigmatic duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan) offered further insights into the artistic process. “They totally went their own way," says Potter. “I have a lot of respect for them and their commitment to their art.”

And Potter has remained committed to his art since his formative years. Born in Chicago on Jan.1, 1971, his family moved to Columbia, South Carolina when he was 3. There he started playing guitar and piano before taking up the alto saxophone at age 10, playing his first gig at 13. When piano legend Marian McPartland first heard Chris at 15 years old, she told his father that Chris was ready for the road with a unit such as Woody Herman’s band, but finishing school was a priority. At age 18, Potter moved to New York to study at the New School and Manhattan School of Music, while also immersing himself in New York’s jazz scene and beginning his lifelong path as a professional musician.

Now a respected veteran (as well as a new father), Potter continues to work as a bandleader and featured sideman. Surely many interesting chapters await. As his longtime colleague, alto saxophonist-composer Dave Binney, told Down Beat, “Chris is open to anything now. From here on anything could happen.” -Bill Milkowski

"Visualizing" Jazz

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Jazz it seems is constantly reinventing itself primarily through amalgamation.

Jazz blends well, in part, because as the late pianist Bill Evans asserted, Jazz is not so much a music per se as it is a process for making music.

If you do certain things musically - primarily improvise on a structure, form or motif employing a syncopated rhythmic pattern - then you create Jazz.

Whatever the source of the music - other musical styles; music from another culture; these use of different instrumentation, et al. - the process of making Jazz can incorporate anything and everything

Applying Jazz to visual mediums is a longstanding custom dating back to filming Jazz bands in action to create short subject movie trailers, or using the music in full scale theatrical films or as a soundtrack for a radio and/or television series, or as the audio track for a documentary.

Listening to Jazz while viewing paintings, sculpture, photography and other graphic media has always been a fun way for me to experience the music in a different mode.

Jazz with graphics is just another form of the music’s adaptability and malleability; it seems to go well with other artistic and cultural elements.

Slide presentations comprised of applying cover art illustrations from an artist’s LP’s or CD’s in combination with photographs of the musician, using various filters with  computer generated graphics and wildlife photography are just three examples that illustrate platforms that I have used to develop videos with Jazz soundtracks.

My usual purpose in generating these videos is to have their soundtracks serve as actual examples of the music under discussion in the Jazz style or Jazz musician being profiled in each blog feature.

Whatever the textual purpose or the visual context, the excitement that listening to Jazz generates never fails to show itself especially when it is placed in an orchestral context [another amalgamation] such as a Jazz soloist featured with The Metropole Orchestra of Holland [just one example]. The Metropole Orkest has the added feature of a large string section that has been specifically trained and rehearsed to perform Jazz phrasing.

With the magnificent Metropole Orchestra as a constant in each of the following videos, why not sit back, turn up the volume control on your speakers or headset and enjoy these videos, each of which uses visual elements set to Jazz..

The first video features trumpeter Randy Brecker performing his original composition Tokyo Freddie with the orchestra as set to cover art and photographs of Randy and his music. Vince Mendoza conducts the orchestra.

The second video is set to computer-generated, HD graphics and features Jeff Beal [trumpet], Harvey Wainapel [soprano saxophone] performing pianist Kenny Barron's Anywhere with the orchestra conducted by Jim McNeely. The arrangement is by Jeff Beal. As you may be aware, Jeff is also the composer of the music to the Netflix produced House of Cards television series.

The third video offers a series of gorgeous, wild animal photographs as set to a version of another Kenny Barron tune - Wildlife - with pianist Rob van Kreeveld and the orchestra in performance, Lex Jasper conducting. The arrangement is by J. Reinders.

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Francy Boland - Playing with the Trio

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

One could perhaps be forgiven if, without deep roots in the halcyon days of modern Jazz in the mid 20th century, they were only aware of Francy Boland as that half of the Clarke Boland Big Band who only did the bulk of the arranging and composing for the orchestra.

Like the bass, pianos in a big band are almost inaudible. And while Francy Boland is a pianist of considerable skill and talent, one would never know it because you can’t really hear him play the instrument in a big band.

Which is why the release of the trio-only tracks from the Going Classic Vogue LP by Schema Rearward as a special edition CD on February 25, 2014 is so significant because as the title indicates, here are nine [9] tracks in which one can actually listen to Francy Boland Playing With The Trio [RW 148].

The “trio” is not surprisingly Francy in the company of bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Kenny Clarke, the three of whom formed the dynamic rhythm section that powered the Clarke Boland Big Band for so many years.

But what may be surprising to some is how well Francy applies his considerable talents as a composer-arranger to creating Jazz in a piano trio setting.

Or, as Francis Gooding explains in his insert notes to Francy Boland Playing With The Trio:

"There is a two-fold pleasure in listening to the leader of a big band play in a trio setting. First, there is the satisfaction of hearing a voice that is normally in the background being brought to centre stage. As a composer and arranger, Francy Boland typically spoke with many tongues. Like Ellington, he wrote with specific players in mind and so, as with a playwright, we usually hear his thoughts interpreted and given utterance by others. The big band format allows the band-leader to project their ideas in grand form, and with the widest range of tones and emphases. It also allows a reserved composer to hide his own light amidst the blaze of brighter burning stars. Boland was of famously modest and self-effacing nature, so to hear him play in this context is something to treasure. And with Klook and Woode behind him the session is, of course, a perfectly cut gem: unassuming but wholly flawless, and shining with intelligent musical light.

Second, there is a more intellectual pleasure, for with an occasional trio like this one we get to examine the music of a large ensemble in reduced form, and from the most privileged point of view. In the company of the composer himself, the trio guides us through versions of familiar Clarke-Boland numbers that have been pared back to absolute essentials, allowing us to see the delicate forms that reside within the complex machinery of Boland's arrangements. The thickets of brass and reeds, the star turns by soloists, the sheer noise and drama of the big band all drop away: the songs are stripped down to founding principles, to the clear colours and subtle accents of the compositional heartwood.

And with this trio in particular we also have the privilege of observing the reactions that take place at the core of the band. Not only do we get to hear Boland's piano in the foreground, but we also hear the quality of his relationship with Klook in direct form. Their interaction cushioned by the supremely constant Jimmy Woode, the two leaders of what was unquestionably the premier European jazz big band of its era can here be heard stretching out on their own material. There was good reason to separate these recordings from their original setting on Boland's Vogue LP Going Classic, where they had appeared stirred through with orchestral arrangements, for the private conversation between these three master musicians has all the wisdom and reserve that befits vast experience and immaculate good taste. We should feel lucky that we can listen in."

The following video will give you a sampling of what’s on offer in this delightful reissue of Jazz trio stylings by Francy, Jimmy and Kenny.

Vee Jay Records - A Tribute [From The Archives]

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“There’s still nothing to beat the special thrill you get when you hear somebody who is absolutely new to you, of whom you have never heard before and who just simply knocks you out.

This shock of recognition is one of the greatest kicks in jazz. Just as those rare moments when everything goes right, the whole thing falls into place and everybody is together, is what keeps the musicians going through the bad times, so the now and then discovery of a beautiful, exciting new voice in jazz is what keeps the listener plowing through all those LPs.

When I first played this LP, I recognized no one on it. After I looked at the personnel, I knew I had heard some of the men before and heard of some of the others. But what shattered me, racked me up and made me play it over and over was the work of a man I had never heard of, of whose existence I hadn't dreamt but whose music hit me with exceptional force.

His name is Frank Strozier and he plays the alto saxophone. Predictions are chance-y things at best, but I'll chance one right here. We've all been waiting for something past Bird to happen to the alto. Ornette Coleman is taking it in one direction and it is welcome news. Frank Strozier, it seems to me, is taking it in a parallel direction bowing, not to Bird directly, but to John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins and possibly to Ornette, as well. He rips into his solos with the agonized wail that Coltrane has made a specialty of; he packs each long line, breath-taking in its searing irregularity, with high-voltage emotion. To come through on record as he does, he must be something else in person. Hearing him, as I did, for the first time in the context of this LP, was an exciting and thrilling experience. I am sure we will all be hearing a lot more from this Memphis-born youngster.”

- Ralph J. Gleason, Jazz author/critic

VeeJay Records was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James Braden, a husband and wife team whose first initials gave the label its name.

The company’s Jazz recordings were a small portion of its releases as it was primarily a rock ‘n roll label.

Gratefully, however, and as you will no doubt observe from the cover art in the video tribute, it provided a number of then fledgling Jazz artists an opportunity to display their talent to a broader audience through its LP’s.

Not surprisingly, given the fact that Gary is 26 miles SE of Chicago, many of VeeJay’s Jazz recordings favored musicians who were or had been primarily based in The Windy City such as pianist Eddie Higgins, tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris and the MJT +3, although it also featured early albums by trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Wynton Kelly.

Chicagoans, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Walter Perkins, dubbed themselves the Modern Jazz Two [“MJT”] and the “3” is made up of Willie Thomas on trumpet, also of Chicago, and Harold Mabern on piano and Frank Strozier on alto saxophone, both born and bred in Memphis, TN.

The tune on the audio track is Ray Bryant’s Sleepy which is based on an AABA structure but the “B” bridge or release is 12-bars while each of the “A’s” is 8-bars.

The tempo is doubled during the second 6-bars of the bridge and played with a triplet feeling in 6/8 time.

Walter Perkins announces the exit from the bridge with a thunderous backbeat that he plays simultaneously with the left hand on the snare drum, the right hand on the floor tom tom and the right foot using the bass drum beater ball.

Does anyone play Jazz at this tempo anymore?

Wynton Marsalis and Jazz At Lincoln Center

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Jazz fans are a contentious lot.

They are always arguing about something: which style of Jazz is best?; who is the better piano player, bassist or drummer?; who should be granted a place in the Downbeat magazine Jazz Musician Hall of Fame or awarded a Grammy?; are Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock Fusion and Jazz performed on electronic instruments [think synthesizers] just so much noise or are they new and different ways to create the music?

These debates are as endless as they are endlessly boring.

Why choose, rate or rank? Enjoy all the aspects of the music that appeal to you and allow others the freedom to do the same. How can art be competitive?

For reasons which I will not go into here for fear of reopening and perpetuating the dialogue, one thing that is irrefutable in Jazz circles is that the mere mention of Wynton Marsalis’ name is enough to set off a debate that can reach incendiary proportions.

But, at the same time, as is explained in the following article from the April 26th edition of The Economist magazine, what is also incontestable is Wynton’s ability to raise money for Jazz.

Unquestionably, in the hundred years or so of Jazz’s existence, no one has ever done it better.

© -The Economist, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Jazz at Lincoln Center

Riff on the world

Building Wynton Marsalis's house of swing into a global brand

“FOR decades, jazz-club owners looked at their more well-heeled cousins in other genres with envy. Unlike metropolitan orchestras or opera houses, jazz groups usually lacked a steady home or grand performance space and a foundation of patrons to help them thrive. The art form that was rooted in the blues and folk music of African slaves in America was often performed in smoky basement joints. Fans paid a modest cover charge or nothing at all to hear music, and the musicians often took home a pittance as their reward for a hard night's work.

Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), launched in 1987 as a concert series in New York, shattered that stereotype. In 1998 it was allocated 100,000 square feet (9,209 square metres) of space in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan's pricey Columbus Circle area. The organisation raised $i3im to build three state-of-the-art venues with virtually perfect acoustics that could accommodate a trio, a big band or a large ensemble.

When it opened in 2004, the centre's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola and what is now called the Appel Room won praise for the romantic, postcard-like views of Central Park and New York's skyline. The "House of Swing", as Wynton Marsalis, a great jazz trumpeter, calls the space, provides him with a dream job. As managing and artistic director, he evangelises about jazz's importance to children and adults alike, while curating concert series and leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra.

Today, ten years after moving into its new home (and against considerable odds), JALC has created a template for building a thriving cultural institution for jazz. The annual budget has grown from $10.5 million to about $48 million for the year ending in June. Much of that is covered by corporations, private donors and board members, many of whom work on Wall Street. And it lures big cheque-writers with finesse. Helen Appel and her husband, Robert, who is JALC'S chairman, gave $20 million this year, the largest gift in the institution's history. Its success has inspired imitators such as the San Francisco-based SFJAZZ, which last year opened the largest free-standing performing-arts building for a jazz organisation in America.

Making the transition from a concert programme to a music centre was a struggle for the board, which was led in the early days by a determined and able record executive, Lisa Schiff. It had to train dozens of people to operate its three venues and an accompanying restaurant. And it needed to build a base of loyal donors and corporate sponsors who were more used to supporting New York's world-class museums and established performing-arts spaces. Mr Marsalis came to Ms Schiff's aid and added corporate pitchman to his duties. He helped lure local sponsors such as Samsung Electronics, Coca-Cola and Bank of America. Attracted by JALC'S reputation for cool, wealthy individual donors began stepping up to the plate. Agnes Varis, a former managing director of the Metropolitan Opera and a fan of Mr Marsalis, made a $3 million unrestricted gift in 2010, the year before she died.

With its growing pains behind it, Mr Marsalis and the executive director, Greg Scholl, now want to turn JALC into a global brand, something no traditional jazz centre has achieved. Mr Marsalis is keen to help jazz evolve from its traditional small, dark and smoky character, and create an international following that will help expand the art form's musical vocabulary. In 2012 it set up a venue at the St Regis Doha in Qatar and enlisted Dominick Farinacci, an emerging American trumpeter, as its "brand" ambassador. A similar plan is in the works to establish an outpost in Shanghai. On June 3Oth Mr Marsalis and the JALC orchestra will perform at the Barbican in London with the Sachal Jazz Ensemble from Pakistan, a genre-blending group that recently created a stir on YouTube with its renditions of Dave Brubeck's standard, "Take Five", and REM'S "Everybody Hurts". Taking JALC global will require more donations. It is a safe bet that Mr Marsalis is already plotting how to use his trumpet, passion and charm to draw them in.