Spring Is In The Air
Readers, thank you.
The response to the Archie Shepp-Philly Joe Jones deep dive was lovely, much better than expected. As the word count crept ever-higher, I kept wondering: “Who’s going to want to read a long, turgid piece about all this except for maybe a few musician friends?” Happily, many more than I thought. Also, I did a little editing this morning on it, cleaning up a few awkward sentences.
Thanks for your tolerance— I’m learning on the job!
The nice reception of that post and the steady growth of this Substack show how powerful this stuff really is. Listening, playing, teaching, or hanging at a gig— music creates community, and when people get together, the possibilities are endless.
Bassist Dave Ambrosio and pianist Jacob Sacks and I are sometimes known as trioTrio. Thanks to Dave’s initiative, we’ve made two albums for Nils Winter’s SteepleChase label, which you can find online. The first features the three of us with trumpeter Dave Scott and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, longtime heroes and poets both, and the second is with the legendary Shelia Jordan. I’m so proud of both of these.
Recently, we’ve been playing with singer Judi Silvano. Silvano filled in for Shelia Jordan on a gig we had at the Deer Head Inn a few months ago, and it was a perfect fit, we all felt right at home. Here’s a nice video posted by pianist Edgar Dorantes of Mal Waldron’s “Soul Eyes” featuring Judi and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts.
On Wednesday, we joined Judi for a gig at Pangaea, in the East Village. Judi is a joy to make music with, and she made the night extra-special by enlisting her husband, Mr. Joe Lovano, to join us. The music was flowing freely, and the more Judi and Joe got into their thing, the stronger I felt echoes of an earlier time. They had a lot of friends of theirs in the audience. With those sounds and all that history in the room, for a second I could almost touch another era of NYC.
It was a lovely evening, we all had a great time; happily, there’s a date with Judi and Joe at Mezzrow in June.
Silvano and Lovano have long been supporters of my friend Yoon Sun Choi, the wonderful vocalist. I played with Yoon’s quartet last night in Brooklyn, which, besides Yoon and I, features Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan.
Yoon got the four of us together back in the hard days of mid-2020 for a gig on a porch in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Even then, there was a sense of purpose to the group.
Though we’ve all known each other and played in different combinations since the early Two Thousands, it was as if Yoon had started a new band.
Choi and Sacks have a long standing duo, while Jacob and Thomas are one of NYC’s teams, appearing on countless gigs and dozens of records together. With Dan Weiss, Jacob and Thomas set a new standard for the piano trio; their larger musical cohort, including Miguel Zenon, Miles Okazaki, Jacob Garchik, and others, have immeasurably added to what’s possible in jazz today.
I really ought to do a long article about Dan, Jacob, Thomas, and their scene. Jazz today would sound very different if not for their immense contribution.
Like Judi Silvano, Yoon Choi is a wide-ranging artist; her book has originals, pop songs (Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Holland-Dozier-Holland), standards, and poetry, but she’ll often preface a piece with an extended free improvisation. In fact, every choice she and Jacob make comes from an improvisational attitude— any tune can be played any way.
Sometimes, playing with Yoon and Jacob, I’ve lost the thread, gone down too many paths without really committing. All those different options can be overwhelming. The goal is to find a through-line connecting Yoon and Jacob’s huge spectrum of possibility, the same thing I sought and found playing Bacharach tunes with Ethan Iverson and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Yoon’s going to record the group this summer; we’ll see what happens.
Ember is going strong, our music keeps developing.
Individually, we’ve all grown, all had some new experience— Caleb Wheeler Curtis has a new trio with bassist Sean Conly and drummer Michael Sarin, veteran masters to whom we’ve looked up since our twenties, while Noah Garabedian recently played with Ravi Coltrane at the Blue Note, pouring his heart out on a big stage for a discerning audience. I’ve gone further into my thing, both with Mark Morris and a new album, available here— check it out if you haven’t already.
As a result, the band is feeling deeper and even more connected. We played in Ridgewood, Queens on Friday at music-first bar called Aftermath, and are playing in Brooklyn on Monday. New venues (for us), new possibilities. Stay tuned.
Tonight I play with guitarist Charlie Ballantine, a new friend, and bassist Peter Brendler, an old friend, at Silvana NYC. I first heard Charlie when Tom Kohn of the Bop Shop in Rochester NY put on his album of covers of Bob Dylan tunes— my upstate soul soared. Check it out and enjoy.
Ten or so years ago, Pete Brendler led a band in NYC that featured, at times, Peter Evans on trumpet, guitarist Ben Monder, and Rich Perry on tenor, plus Pete and I. We even made a few records for our friends at PosiTone, Nick O’Toole and Marc Free. Here’s us playing “Pharmacology”, Pete’s great line on “Get Happy”.
Drummer Tony Reedus has been on my mind this afternoon. I want to cop some of his loose, unhurried feel. Even when he’s aggressive, he plays like he’s talking to an old friend.
Listen to him play a challenging Walter Davis Jr. tune called “400 Years Ago Tomorrow” with Woody Shaw, Steve Turre, Bobby Hutcherson, Mulgrew Miller, and Stafford James in 1981. Astonishing. No end to jazz riches in the Digital Age.
When I started this Substack, I was worried that I might run out of subjects. Now the opposite is true— everything I hear seems to beg for a deeper dive, and I learn so much that I want to share.
Tony Reedus, Philly Joe Jones, , Ralph Peterson, Gerald Cleaver, and Terri Lyne Carrington don’t need me to talk about their greatness. Their importance exists independent of my typing; but their music makes life so much more fun that I need to talk about it.
It’s Easter Sunday, the sky in Brooklyn is mostly clear, and spring seems imminent. Humanity is beset by great challenges, yet we persevere. Knowledge, meaning, beauty, and connection are not luxuries— they are essential.
Thank you all….more soon…..
Happy Easter ––enjoy the music as much as we enjoy your writing!
A Sheila record I missed - now ordered!