Freddie Hubbard dies at age 70

Having made a new year's resolution to post more frequently here is a short email response I wrote to the double bassist listserv (2xbass) today at hearing a sad response to the passing of Freddie.

from Don, a fine bassist living in Oklahoma.

"This is too sad." link

My Response

As an older musician I don't feel sad when I hear of the passing of
the great jazz musicians. Death is just the next location on the tour,
the next hotel you need to check into, you might get to play with
others who have left that earthly scene and gone to that heavenly jam
session or great gig in the sky. It's easier to handle this way rather
than thinking it's completely nothing at all. I believe that Freddie
is still playing, writing tunes, putting new albums together, it's
just for a different audience now.

It's like seeing a dark, unknown location-hotel on the end of the tour
sheet and you'll never exactly what-where it is till you get there.
You just have to maintain a positive attitude, do what you do, play
the way you play, and hope for the best, like maybe playing on Scott
LaFaro's bass before the accident, or playing "Cherokee" with Bud
Powell, which happens to be playing on my stereo at this moment. I
don't know if I would ever have chops, musical scope, and
bass-validity to play with Bill Evans.

I realize that jazzers may live a little harder life than classical
performers - they are likely to play a gig for short bread, or not get
paid at all - but they have sacrificed to contribute to the art -
which is fantastic for us listeners. We all will meet the same fate,
just have to be ready for it - which is the hard part. That's where
SS, 403b, 401k, IRAs, Roth, Keogh et.al. help meet that change in
life/death.

RE; jazzer vs classical, short bread and such -

Guess I count myself lucky to have played in a decent symphony for 17
years, making 403b and Social Security contributions. I'm also lucky
to have worked in the "straight world" making at twice what I did in
the symphony (IBM and others).

If you hear of a jazzer having to work a day job never think less
of his dedication to the art. He (she) simply is taking care of
business and still making time to work on the art. We all work towards the art in different ways and capacities.

end of response.

Happy New Year to all. May the new year have frequent times and dedicated thought processes devoted to jazz, especially Bill Evans.

Don't forget to check Jan Steven's great web site, the Bill Evans Web Pages for the latest Bill news and features.








Bill Evans Trivia Question:

Which tune, or tunes, did Bill "doubletime the changes" to, other than his own "Blue In Green" when performing? Respond to bighinx@gmail.com.

Later.

Here's Something For You

Sorry about the infrequency of posts to this blog - I had some personal issues that needed resolve.

Below is a review I wrote some months ago. Eliane and Marc have done a remarkable thing with this recording, taking a tune a tune that was definitely a work in progress and transcribed it, written lyrics for, and recorded it and released it to the public. It will probably end up as one of those back-of-the-binCDs in the Eliane Elias library that will be something of value for Bill Evans fans but not holding any interest for the Eliane Elias fan. I still go round and round in a bipolar way in my affection for it and distaste of the obvious bravura it took to produce. As time goes by this might be resolved but I doubt it. It will always be something to listen to and attempt to work out.

"Here's Something For You"
Eliane Elias, piano
Marc Johnson, bass
Joey Baron, drums
Blue Note records

At first I was very excited by this album. I guess I've listened to maybe 25 different tribute albums dedicated to Bill and this one tops them all in the category of bringing new things to see the light of day. Some players just go through the motions of reading through Bill's tunes, or the standards associated with Bill, unable to distill from themselves, that rich essence of reaching into one's self and looking for that specialness that we all recognise as Bill Evans. Some of the best that I have heard include those by John McLaughlin,Egil Kapstadt, The Danish radio Jazz orchestra/Jim McNeely, Richie Beirach, Warren Bernhart, Enrico Pieranunzi , and French singer Elene Dee. One of my favorites is guitarist Harold Alden's tribute, "Your Story" on Concord records, a player and label you wouldn't normally associate with Bill Evans type music. Then there are several players who I hope will someday, make Bill Evans tributes, like bassist RayDrummond who loves Bill's music. All of the afore mentioned need to listen to this new Eliane Elias CD. She, with the help of husband Marc Johnson have set a different standard.

On first hearing the CD does not seem to be that adventurous, due to the short track length, set by Eliane. There is a review in All About Jazz stating that the title tune is from a tape that Bill gave Marc containing some new tunes he was working on. The last track of the album titled "Introduction ..." starts with this track, the original cassette tape. As you listen to the track play you can hear Eliane take over from Bill, playing the melody of the tune and adding a few of the lyrics. The tape that Marc gave to Eliane might be from the Bill's 50th birth day party. The complete version with all lyrics is the second track of the CD. This re-enforces the intent of Eliane to cater to radio stations air play standards, at least older radio air play standards - no long tunes and the first tune of the CD being up-tempo.

The title tune is something that Bill was developing at the end of his life. For years I always thought it was just pianistic meanderings on the first part of the melody of "Who Can I turn To," but it was a real tune that Bill was working on. It also appears on the tape circulating of Bill playing at EdSteinberg's home, probably in New York before a gig in March of 1980, as the last tune Bill plays. He introduces on the tape, "here is something I'm gonna play for you, it's sorta show-like." I have guessed that Mrs.Steinberg, or some lady friend of Dr. Ed Steinberg payed Bill to come play for her. The tape is marred by Dr. Steinberg making and taking phone calls in the background. One of the calls is for Bill, to call back the person when he gets home - that's why I think it's in the NYC area.

Marc Johnson gets a chance to stretch out on the tune "But Not For Me." If you want to see Eliane playing the title tune can go to this YouTube post. Marc is also playing Scotty's LaFaro's bass as rebuilt by bass luthier, Barrie Kolstein, on one tune, the ballad "My Foolish Heart" (perhaps more tracks - we need to ask Marc about that.) It is great to hear Scotty's bass again, played by Marc. Marc treated this project with respect and love.

Jazz set at Scullers
Eliane Elias Trio
Marc Johnson - bass
Ronnie Hart - drums
(Ronnie live in Boston as was called for the dates as he worked with Marc before with Stan Getz. Elaine does not carry a drummer with the group. Hearing Ronnie play here makes me wonder if he ever listened to Eliane or Bill Evans for that matter. He pretty much bashed ahead with no regard for group dynamics.

Eliane and Marc were selling and signing the featured CD after each set. Eliane says in the liner notes to the "Here's Something for You", "I had the choice to do long improvisations of fewer tunes or bring more songs to the record with enough soloing to bring them to life." Well, that just did not work - no "life" for the most part. I don't thinkEliane has the chops to play much more than the head or initial statement of the melody, one or two short improvised choruses with no real chops or purpose to explore the tune, filled with the same simple devices she uses in all her playing, then their might be a short bass solo, the head again, and out. Her lack of ability was verified when playing in a live club scene where there are no time limit restrictions. Her playing live is just like the recordings, short and filled with cliches whereas there is plenty of time for one of Marc's extended bass solos which he does so well, such as what he played on the tuneDesifinado" at the end of the first set.

As far as what she did regarding taking what might have been Bill's last compositions, transcribing it, adding lyrics that are sensitive to what Bill brought us - this is a great thing. It serves very well as a tribute album, just not a jazz album in any sense of what Bill gave us.

Concert Review
All Keys Concert
Piano Department Faculty Concert March 6, 2008
Berklee College of Music Performance Center
Pianists: Stephanie Tiernan, Joanne Brackeen, Francesca Tanksley, John Mulroy, John Arcaro, Jeff Covell, Bob Winter, Carmen Staaf, Bruce Thomas, Robert Christopherson, Tony Germain, Greg Wardson, Laslo Gardony, David Limina, Matt Jenson, Rebecca Cline, Leo Blanco.

It is amazing that one school can boast this many piano faculty. Berklee, in addition to being a jazz and pop-music school advertises that it also has a classical piano department. I don't know whether any of this list of faculty teaches classical or not. I can tell you that several of this list probably teach and perform in the pop area rather than jazz. It was a long concert and I did not stay to the bitter end as some of the later performing artists were touted as playing other keyboards in the concert, including those belonging to a laptop. There was also a great deal of non-acoustic hardware on the stage and since I heard all but the last 3 faculty listed and had not heard that extra hardware I counted myself as being lucky and left as I didn't want to press my luck.

It was a pleasurable surprise to see Joanne Brackeen's name as faculty. I have always loved her playing and have most of her trio albums. She played a duet with Stephanie Tiernan entitled "Moon Out," a massive reworking of the tune "Moonglow." The initial stride treatment became a point of departure for Joanne and Stephanie to take the audience by the hand, taking them "where no man has gone before" to paraphrase the opening title of the old TV series, "Star Trek." The gals were dressed in turn-of-the-century outfits. I don't think there was an ostrich feather left in Boston as their costumes used them all.

Francesca Tanksley did a trio version of "Nardis" with able assistance by members of the drums and bass faculties. She played quite nicely if exuberantly. She swapped 8's, 4's, 2's and tried to do 1's as Bill's later trio did. It's difficult to get things coordinated with a drummer and bassist you don't work with all the time, on a very reverberant stage, and with a decidedly non-jazz sound reinforcement crew but they did pretty well. I want to hear more of Francesca.

Next came Jeff Covell with guest Jim Cameron on tenor. Jeff tinkled on the piano for intro then launched into a sort of medium swing ostinato outlining a D minor to Eb 7 tonality - riff , reminiscent of Stan Kenton's "Intermission Riff." The tune turned out to be "Alone together." He used the same idea each time for the first 8. It was interesting and but got to sound a little cumbersome when played repeatedly. Jeff chose to play a lot of left hand bass lines. When piano players do this I'm reminded of an old friend's philosophy who's also a jazz pianist. When I worked with him as a duo, bass and piano, he would admonish me not to play in four. He said if you do that, the audience starts missing the drummer. When Jeff played so many walking left hand bass notes I missed the bass player in the group.

John Mulroy came on the stage by himself which was a welcome relief since this was a piano faculty concert and I wanted to hear the individual pianist's stuff. Mulroy's tune was an original called "Coin Toss," at times following a complex chord progression, perhaps with descending seventh chords, alternating with what was almost a blues. Mulroy was the first solo pianist to really makes use of a polite touch on the instrument and it was a pure pleasure to listen to. The tune sort of skittered between different tonalities, never over-bearing and always intriguing to the ear. I must get a lead sheet of that tune - which is probably the most sincere complement I can pay to the performer.

Next came John Arcaro for a solo piano tune. From his first few notes I could tell that he, like Mulroy, knew what the word touch meant regarding the piano. John played the great standard, "I Should Care" in a beautiful solo piano treatment, not unlike Bill Evans might have played, playing a variety of chord voicing, chord substitutions, and always varying the texture of the setting. His playing and insight into the tune, and the instrument was a continual pleasure from beginning to end. He also used a modulation scheme that Bill Evans might have played, starting in the key of C, moving to Eb after a few choruses, brightening things up considerably with a move to F then bringing it all back home to C again. Of all the pianists I heard that night I made it a point to find out more about him, where he is playing, and looking for a situation where I might get the opportunity to sit in with him.

Another two piano team played next, Bob Winter and Carmen Staaf. I can see where some of the faculty helped the long concert along by teaming up. These guys were delightful, playing the perennial favorite "Willow Weep For Me," first in a straight ahead style, then in an exciting Latino version where pianist Staff really shined. Winter's playing was the glue that help contain the powerful Staff's playing and made for a beautiful "sturm und drang" type of presentation.

Next the announcer, John Limina, (whom we heard later on the updated Hammond B3 organ) announced that the next tune was in tribute to NYC pianist Fred Hersch who was "very ill" and that pianist/faculty member Bruce Thomas would play Fred's composition "Ballad." Bruce played it tenderly and musically. I immediately emailed Fred when I got home and inquired about his illness. He responded with a return email the next morning stating that he had been very sick but he is fine now, good news for those of us who love his music.

Bob Christopherson followed with an original composition, "Natural Evolution" on solo piano. Bob also demonstrated a nice sense of touch. the music was interesting, tonal, with a nice sense of harmony but my immediate thought was that Bob's playing was plasma in search of some sort of bottle to pour it in to. The music was fine but just needed some form to go along with it.

A two piano version of "Softly As A Morning Sunrise" followed, played by Tony Germain and Greg Wardson. It was interesting in spots but seemed to go one or two choruses too many. The playing was a little too energetic for me and I detected no identifiable sections where one player soloed and the other accompanied, which is and absolute must in this type of format.

Next came pianist Laszlo Gordony who played something he called "In Transit" which appropriately was a signal to me that I had better be in transit out of there. The announcer, Limina, started a tribute to Chicago organ trio style of blues/jazz playing as I made my exit. Things were getting a little loud and commercial sounding for my taste so it was a good time to leave.

I look forward to more concerts at Berklee. My apologies to Matt Jenson, Rebecca Cline, and Leo Blanco - I hope to hear you play on another occasion. There is an upcoming tribute concert to recently deceased Herb Pomeroy on April 1st. Herb is the only jazzer that I know of who has a scale named after him.

Walking Bassics by Ed Fuqua

Walking Bassics
The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing
by Ed Fuqua
a Sher Music Publication

I heard of the bassist Ed Fuqua several years ago and was prompted to investigate further as my wife's maiden name is Fuqua. When I saw this book at Chuck Sher's web site it gave me reason to find more information about him and what better way to start than by reviewing his bass method book.

Walking Bassics is just that. It goes through several exercises and helps establish the right mind set for any bassist to get into walking. And, of course, if you don't agree that walking is the basis for all mainstream jazz bass playing you are probably playing a bass guitar and might not ever long to move up to the "real thing," a big double bass.

Ed states the four basic ways that a bassist can delineate the chord changes then he demonstrates each of these with a written line and that line is played by Ed and a minimalist drummer and pianist on the included CD. Then these four methods, or note choices, can be combined in various ways to play great bass lines.

On page 8 there is a quote by Ed that really sums up all jazz playing on all instruments, "Getting the sound of a tune's chord progression in your ears is vital to getting your head out of the way and letting your ears do the driving." To that end Ed advocates building a "chord line" chart. This is a process that works for all jazz musicians, not just bassists. For years I advocated that all jazz instrumentalists learn to play a walking jazz bass line on their instruments. This helps students develop a melodic but simple bass line for single voice instruments (like trumpet and sax, not guitar and piano) to learn to "comp," helping the soloist in the improvisation class know exactly where he/she is with regard to the chord changes and the form of the tune. (You can even pair like or different instruments up, to take turns soloing and comping - helping the soloist to keep his place in the changes, and the form, without having to read the tune from the music stand.) It is even possible to teach drummers to do this, first with the form, then by playing snare drum phrases in imitation of the melody or common riffs associated with the tune.

Ed's first chord line chart is based on the changes to "September In The Rain," a very typical 32 bar tune and a very good choice to illustrate his points. The only thing I missed from Ed here is emphasis in delineating the form of the tune, in this case a 32 bar chorus with AABA form. Since the 32 bar song forms are completely foreign territory to today's youth it would behoove the jazz teacher to spend some time on this subject. A "fifth" item to emphasize in addition to the chord line would be the form. I have my jazz students use a 8 column, 4 row table, 32 cells, one for each measure and its chord changes, to notate the chord line. This graphic representation makes the "blocks" of the tune's harmony easier to visualize and remember.

Another thing I would add is for all bassists to reach a level of simple jazz theory to be able to play chords on the piano or keyboard. Hearing the changes and the ability to "pre-hear" where the tune is going is something every bassist will need to "let your ears do the driving." I guess that some would argue that jazz theory and "jazz keyboarding" be taught elsewhere, perhaps in other classes. The benefit of the bass teacher teaching these is self evident - no one can teach what the harmony and form structure of a tune from the bass- perspective to the bass student better than the bass player himself.

Ed's sound on bass in the accompanying CD has just the right mix of "ping" and "ring" and is a great recorded sound to emulate. He also spends considerable time on the "drive," or sense of propelling things forward that a bassist (and drummer) must develop when playing mainstream jazz. The second half of the book is complete transcriptions of Ed's lines on the CD. I will recommend it to students as a first book to assimilate when working on a great walking technique and "feel." This is a great book and a necessary one for all bass players in the learning mode (including older students). (Ed, if you read this please get in touch. bighinx@gmail.com)

Tony Bennett, "The Music Never Ends"

"He played like an ocean in a storm," says Tony Bennett about Bill Evans in this 2007 retrospective about Tony's career on the PBS TV show, "American Masters, The Music Never Ends." When this show airs on your local PBS station make sure to have your Tivo, DVR, DVD recorder, computer, or VCR in the record mode as you will be treated to segments of Bill and Tony's appearance on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show as well as some notable footage of this country's greatest singing artist.

If you don't have the two Tony Bennett/Bill Evans collaborations you need to get them. The most memorable track to me is Tony singing Bill's "The Two Lonely People." Of all Bill's tunes this one is the perfect torch song with fantastic lyrics that beg to be sung. Also the tune, "The Bad And The Beautiful" makes a rare appearance and is sung very well here by Tony. Both CDs are available from Amazon and the usual sources.

Tony is always gracious and respectful to the Great American Songbook as this show pays homage to all of those who have gone down his path, from Jimmy Durante to the "chairman," Frank Sinatra. The production is directed by Bruce Ricker who at one time, produced the largest catalog of jazz videos available under his Rhapsody Films label. Clint Eastwood acts as sort of an anchor and probably paid the tab for this production. Tony needs no prompting in talking about his career and paying homage to the greats of his art form. In many ways the art of singing great songs is sort of dying and I hope this production will be the spark that prods others to continue along this road less traveled.

Pianist Dave Peck

I first became aware of pianist Dave Peck some 15 years ago. His music making has a magic, understated quality reminiscent of Bill's early playing. That magic has continued to grow over the years and recently I had the privilege to hear him play again. Two cuts from his new CD release, "All of You" and "How Deep Is The Ocean," as well as a short interview with veteran jazz broadcaster Jim Wilke are available from NPR station KPLU in Tacoma WA. Please do you ears the favor of listening to Dave's trio with Jeff Johnson on Bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. The altered space that Dave plays at the start of "All Of You" as well as the great trades between the pianist and Joe LaBarbera in "How Deep . . ." will be a pleasant experience for your ears and soul. I really look forward to hearing the rest of the CD. I also hope that this trio can have the opportunity to play together as often as possible - they are capable of some very serious music and I welcome it. If you cannot find Dave's recordings in your local music store go to www.davepeckmusic.com. Your ears will thank you.

Also check out KPLU FM jazz streams. Living in an area with no real jazz programming I constantly search the web for high quality streaming jazz. Two stations really stand out as programing quality music and good fidelity,WGBH FM in Boston (where I'm moving to) and KPLU FM in Tacoma WA. WGBO FM in Newark NJ plays some great music but unfortunately the bad quality of their stream makes it unsustainable.

New Mark Levine Publication

Pianist-educator Mark Levine has written another in his series of great piano publications, "The Drop 2 Book" available from Sher Music Co. www.shermusic.com. Drop 2 is a simple method in which a closed right hand voicing of the chord with the melody note in the top can be opened up for a different sound. The second note of the closed position voicing is dropped an octave. There can also be "drop 3" but drop 2 is the more common choice preferred by pianists and jazz arrangers. The book isspiral bound so it sits flat on your instrument and there is an attached CD with recordings of each example in the book.

"Chording" the melody of a tune, or the improvised melody for the more adventuresome, is a very common tool of the jazz pianist. Pianist George Shearing based his whole style on it. When Bill Evans was age 16 or so he went through a George Shearing period of practicing everything in a single or two handed chordal style. It's a fantastic way to really learn the harmony of a tune and applying it directly to a melody.

Mark starts with a sixth-chord approach on the chord tones and a diminished chord on passing tones. Then he gradually takes the user through "tweaked" versions of the chords to add different colors. Then the major seventh chord approach is explained and applied, giving a more modern like sound. The "tweaked" options become more plentiful and more demands are made upon the user to decide for himself if the resultant color is appropriate for the tune being played. The user may end up with fourth based chord voicing which is another technique, arrived at circuitously here.

To summarize, this book is a lot of fun to go through and can prove to be an invaluable step in developing a style vocabulary for the jazz pianist. Highly recommended.