Celebrate International Jazz Day April 30th This Wednesday with Giacomo Gates & Trio at the Stamford Palace Theatre

Giacomo Gates and Ed Howard photo by Ralph A. Miriello 2013

In Novemeber 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

officially designated April 30th as International Jazz Day in order to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role in uniting people in all corners of the globe.

Jazz has a long history of successfully bridging the gap between various cultural and ideological differences. The United States, through its State Department, has sponsored jazz artists to tour foreign countries as good will ambassadors. The music has been an invaluable vehicle for sending positive images of our national intentions to other countries.  Jazz artist like Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie and most famously Louis Armstrong have all been instrumental in improving relations  with other countries through the positive vibes offered through the performances of their music abroad. The artists sent strong  messages of peace, friendship and goodwill through the all the powerful medium of their music. Jazz has proven to be an international language that accepts no political or geographic boundaries. This year in Osaka, Japan a stellar line-up of top jazz musicians will celebrate this special day with an All Star Global Concert from the Osaka Castle Park in Japan.

In keeping with this celebratory and spiritual undertaking of uniting people around the globe through jazz, I have been working with the creative and receptive people at the Stamford Center of the Arts  to introduce a regular jazz series to the Palace Theatre in Stamford.  The people at SCA have graciously received this notion as one that is keeping with their mission to provide artistic performances to the community. To that end and in celebration of International Jazz Day, the SCA will present  an evening of jazz this Wednesday April 30, 2014 at 8pm at the Palace.  The evening will feature the great jazz vocalist Giacomo Gates and his trio. Mr. Gates is a Connecticut native and longtime resident of Bridgeport. He is a frequent nominee in both the Jazz Journalist Association and Downbeat  magazine annual awards for best male jazz vocalist.

Gates has a smoky baritone that resonates in the ears like a fine glass of single malt smoothly tantalizes the mouth.  He is a master of the art of vocalese and scat and is a direct descendant of the great Eddie Jefferson, whom he credits as one of his influences. More than anything else Gates is a master storyteller who engages his audience with a nonchalant appeal. His delivery has a cool, hip cadence that somehow draws you into the story he is telling, and oh what stories! Gates repertoire is filled with nuggets that lay just outside the great American songbook. His most recent albums, both critically acclaimed, include the Revolution Will Be Jazz the Music of Gil Scott Heron and Milestones the Music of Miles Davis. Giacomo Gates, a cat who lies just outside the boundaries of what you might expect, and that, along with his wonderfully resonant voice, is what makes his performances unpredictable and so appealing. And the cat can swing, no lie.

I will be holding an impromptu Q & A session with Gates at intermission, so be sure to come and see a true jazz master and maybe ask him a question or two. Get into his head. It will be a trip for sure.Join us in celebration of great music on International Jazz Day, Jazz Appreciation Month and the return of real jazz to Stamford, CT at the Palace Theatre this Wednesday at 8pm. You can get your tickets by linking here. 

Here is a sample of Gates recent music and if you want to read more about Giacomo Gates see my recent interview with him by linking here, See you at the Palace.

An Interview with Singer/Pianist Freddy Cole

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SINGER/PIANIST FREDDY COLE 

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Freddy Cole photo by Clay Walker

• The singer/pianist Freddy Cole is a national treasure and at eighty-one years young he is still a masterful entertainer. He will be playing in a duet series with the singer Hilary Kole titled "Perfect Pairs" at the Palace Theatre in Stamford, CT on November 13, 2013. I was fortunate to be able to do an interview with Mr. Cole in preparation for an article on the show. Here is a transcript of that phone interview which was taken on November 7, 2013 :

NOJ: When did you first realize you wanted to make a career in music?

FC: You know, I never really thought about it. I never really distinguished between doing it or not because I have played the piano since I was five years old. So, I have always been involved with music. I was just fortunate enough for it to happen to me.

NOJ: You were in a musical family and were exposed to some of the most iconic figures in jazz history at an early age.

FC: That's true. Yeah, that's true.

NOJ: Who left the greatest impression on you and what instance can you recall had the greatest impact?

FC: I don't know. To pick out one would be kind of difficult, I have had wonderful experiences with Billy Eckstine, He was such a wonderful man. I played golf with him and went out for drinks with him, you know after I got old enough. I guess "B" would be the person I would have to choose.

NOJ: You had a great song you wrote "I'm Not My Brother I'm Me" which pretty much addresses the difficulty of living in the shadow of an iconic figure like your brother Nat ("King" Cole) and finding your own way. When do you feel the public was willing to accept you as an artist on your own terms?

FC: One time, I guess in '88 or '89, I was playing in NY and my niece and I went to church the next day- you know Natalie's younger sister- and I heard a sermon that kind of touched me. I started off going to try to right myself, you know going down the path of... in fact, there is an old saying that Papa used to say " If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."  You know? (Laughing)

NOJ: Yeah, I get it.

FC: Exactly. I was doing okay. I was playing around town, but I was on the same road. I was just going round and round in circles. Until you can get to where your peers respect what you do, that is when you are making progress. When I was playing at Bradley's this one night, who comes in but Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, George Coleman you name it. You know I said to myself, 'They're all coming to see me.' Never knowing that they respected me, what I did.

NOJ: When was this, about 1989?

FC: Yeah.

NOJ: according to John di Martino, who has worked with you and arranged and played on several of your albums, you have one of the most extensive repertoires in the industry to draw from, but you never make a setlist before a show. Is this true?

FC: Yes,  that's right. ..(John) has worked with me and is a great, great, player.

NOJ: How do you spontaneously choose what your going to play for any particular show?

FC: I don't know. It's hard to explain, 'cause I just zero in on it as I do the first song and then from there it's like boom, boom, boom ...you know.

NOJ: So it's a visceral thing? You feel the audience and feel what they are looking for and then...

FC: Yeah, it's like all in the presentation, You have to present (properly) what you do.

NOJ: How do you look at lyrics when you sing a song?

FC: They tell a certain story. They tell a story about what you are talking about in the song. Some songs you like because of the chord changes or the melody, some songs you like because of the lyrics. You know when it's a great song you get them both together.

NOJ: One of your contemporaries, Tony Bennett, likes to pick songs ( with lyrics) that mean something to him.

FC: Exactly. I don't do anything that I don't like. Anything you hear me do, you know I like it.
I like some (songs) better than others, but I don't do any songs that I feel I have to butter up or doctor it up. No, I don't do that.

NOJ: You mentioned Billy Eckstine. You did a great album dedicated to him titled
Freddy Cole sings Mr. B  from 2010, which was nominated for a Grammy award in 2011 in the
category of "Best Jazz Vocal Album." Congratulations. What was it about Mr."B" and his music that still endures?

FC: He was so musical and he was a classy person. It is so hard to talk about him, he did so many things right. His selection of songs was impeccable. You know during that era nobody recorded more than "B" my brother Nat, Ella ( Fitzgerald), and Frank Sinatra. Those four people recorded more than anyone. Their music still stands.

NOJ: In reading about Billy Eckstine, he apparently credited Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby as two of his influences.

FC: Bing Crosby was a fantastic musician. People don't realize how great he was. His choice of songs, he did everything. There wasn't anything he couldn't do that was the same way "B" was.

NOJ: Were Crosby or Columbo too early to be an influence on you?

FC: I liked some of their songs. I listened to everything. I liked some of the songs that they did.
Some great tunes came out of there.

NOJ: You have developed a vocal style that is so naturally conversational and yet so intrinsically musical that it mesmerizes your audiences. Is this a result of playing gigs where the audience was not always attentive and you needed to grab them or did it just come naturally?

FC: (Laughing) well it's a little bit of both. I learned how to do this from watching and listening to Brazilian singers. I used to go to Brazil, I had a couple of hit records down in Brazil and I had a chance to meet and play with a lot of great musicians. They have a lot of great musicians down there who sadly will never be known up here. One thing always got me was the way they could really grab an audience. Elise Regina was a master at that. She was beautiful and she could sing, oh man! Maria Bethania was another.

NOJ: You have over twenty albums as a leader, starting with The Joke's On Me from 1952 all the way to your most recent album This and That. Do you have any favorites?

FC: Well, I like This and That.

NOJ: You will be playing a duet with the vocalist Hilary Kole at the Stamford Center for the Arts Palace Theatre on November 13, 2013. What do you have planned for this gig?

FC: I have no idea. I recorded with Hilary once before " It's Always You" (from Hilary's You Are There album of 2010), so I am sure we will do that one and what else I don't know.

NOJ: One of the interesting parts of the "Perfect Pairs" series at the Palace is that it brings together two artists from different backgrounds, usually jazz and cabaret. Ms. Kole has worked in cabaret and she also worked at Birdland and the Rainbow Room and you have a repertoire that includes a generous helping of Broadway tunes. Is this a common ground that you might explore?

FC: I don't know, not until I talk to her. I have to speak with her and see what direction she would like to go with and what we could do together. Fortunately, it's jazz music so it gives us a chance to do several things.

NOJ: What are the commonalities between jazz and cabaret?

FC: I am a firm believer in (not labeling)...people always have to have a title for something. Why can't they just let it be music? Or good music. Why does it have to be "Urban Contemporary Adult Music?" What is that? The "Nearness of You" or "Body And Soul" are the same I don't care what you playing at.

It's like Stevie Wonder's "Sunshine of My Life," that's music.I'm not putting any kind of music down, but why does it have to have a title? You have to say, oh this is a singer, he's this or she's that...I totally disagree with that.

NOJ: I guess when we writers try to describe and differentiate the many styles we hear we tend to use words to compare and to label, seemingly for clarity.

FC: Well they (writers) messed up a lot of careers with that. Some people try to fit into whatever
(category) it is they say and if you keep bouncing around, not doing what your capable of doing or of what you can do best, well that is what you should do. Try to worry about your presentation, about doing that properly) instead of worrying about...oh, I 'm in Texas so I'd better do a Country & Western song. Or, oh I'm in California so I got to do a cool jazz song. That's crazy!

NOJ: But even guys like Sonny Rollins did a Western album (Sonny Rollins Way Out West from 1959) that was successful.

FC: You know why he did it? It was because it made sense musically.

NOJ: Ray Charles was another artist that would crossover into different areas to widen his audiences.

FC: Well Ray wasn't doing anything different than what he was doing all his life. You go all the way back to his first thing and hey he wasn't doing anything different.

NOJ: Will you be playing with your regular quartet at the Palace show?

FC: Yes. Randy Napoleon on guitar, Elias Bailey on bass and Curtis Boyd on drums.

NOJ: Does Randy do some arranging for you?

FC: He has been arranging some of my material on the last two Cd's and he is doing a nice job.

NOJ: I understand your son Lionel is a talented musician and musical director in his own right?

FC: Yeah, he is a very fine musician. He is living in Australia now. He got married and he is living over there and is as busy as a one-armed paperhanger.

NOJ: It must be tough having him so far away?

FC: Yeah, I don't get a chance to see him and my two grandkids much. That's tough but you got to do what you got to do.

NOJ: Thanks so much Freddy for graciously spending this time to answer our questions. I look forward to seeing at you the Palace Theatre show on November 13, 2013.

Jazz in July Series Finale at Stamford's Columbus Park Presents: Chick Corea and the Vigil

Chick Corea photo by Ralph A. Miriello c 2103

This past Wednesday August 7,2013, as a truly fitting ending to a talent packed Jazz in July concert series in Stamford's Columbus Park, the creative pianist Armando "Chick" Corea played a stirring set of music with his latest touring group the Vigil. Mr. Corea is a world class pianist and keyboard artist whose presence has been at the forefront of the contemporary jazz scene for nearly half a century. It's hard to believe that I first heard Mr. Corea play almost forty years ago in a now defunct venue in New Jersey. Mr. Corea was initiating a new guitar player to his then fusion band Return to Forever. The guitar player then was a young Al Di Meola, who amazingly sight read the incredibly complex and as yet unfamiliar charts as band mates Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and Chick put him through a baptism of fire. The music was
eye-popping and hit you like a mainline shot of adrenaline. It was part of a trend that was then blurring the lines between rock and jazz, creating a wild variant that boasted, incredibly complicated musical lines and unprecedented synchronous virtuosity, all executed at blazing, mind-numbing speed. Mr. Corea, along with the drummer Tony Williams and his band Lifetime, the guitarist John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orchestra, the pianist Herbie Hancock and his Headhunters and the saxophonist Wayne Shorter and co-founder Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul's group Weather Report were all major proponents of this new and energetic music. These artists, among others, were all alumni of the trumpeter Miles Davis' foray into electronic music. Davis had taken jazz by the scruff of it's neck and daringly thrown it on it's ear by delving into the newly developing world of electronic instrumentation, first with his 1969 album In a Silent Way and later with his landmark album Bitches Brew. For many its was a sacrilegious experiment, but for Mr. Corea the die was cast and despite maintaining a love of both traditional and avant-garde jazz,  Mr. Corea has seemingly found the use of electronics as an effective tool, a bridge that allows him to reach his audience, expand his base and create some marvelous music along the way.

Mr. Corea started the evening's set by  introducing his fellow musicians to the packed audience. On guitar from Berkeley, California, Charles Altura; on saxophones, bass clarinet and flute from London, England, Tim Garland; from Queens, New York, on drums, Marcus Gilmore; on percussion, from Caracas,Venezuela Luisito Quintero and for this performance -replacing regular Vigil bassist Hadrien Feraud-on acoustic and electric bass from Philadelphia, PA the inimitable Christian McBride.

Chick Corea & the Vigil photo by Ralph A. Miriello c 2013

Mr. Corea has always been able to attract top talent to perform with him around the world.  On this overcast evening in Stamford, that threatened but never produced showers, he certainly didn't disappoint bringing with a top notch group. Mr. Corea started the set with a beautifully ruminative acoustic piano introduction, reminiscent of his early acoustic work on Now He Sings, Now He Sobs from 1968. This morphed into a driving ostinato bass groove by Mr. McBride opening the song.  Mr. Corea's has an orchestra-tor's penchant for creating harmonically and rhythmically rich compositions that make full use of all the timbres available from his band mates.The groove created by the rhythm section allowed for some splendid solos- Mr. Garland on soprano saxophone, Mr. Altura on electric guitar, an unbelievably facile bass solo by McBride and some bombastic percussive runs by both Quintero and Gilmore. The song spanned over twenty minutes without a moment's lull throughout.

Wasting little time for applause, Mr. Corea immediately went into a more mainstream jazz standard on acoustic piano, Jimmy Van Heusen's "It Could Happen to You," where his telepathic interplay with Mr. McBride was most evident. For his part, Mr. McBride beamed delightfully throughout the song and for that matter throughout most of the evening. He has the contented  smile of a Cheshire cat and his playing brings an unbridled enthusiasm to the music. He possesses an amazingly swift pizzicato technique and a sophisticated language based on tradition and invention. Mr. Altura's playing was fairly reserved and a bit pedestrian. A more robust solo by saxophonist Tim Garland on tenor was well received. Mr. Garland is a versatile reed man who plays with a fiery attack that is visceral and liquid is a welcome voice in this group. Mr. Corea, for his part, was content in accompanying his fellow musicians and enjoying their creative forays on the well worn melody.

Mr. Corea  has been a longtime follower of  L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology and over the years his music has frequently incorporated themes about space and time undoubtedly influenced by his readings.The next tune, a Corea composition titled "Portals to Forever," builds from the music that he once created for his fusion band "Return to Forever."  Creating an electronic keyboard generated ostinato that leads into another McBride bass line, the song features a repeating vamp played synchronously by Garland and Altura,  as Gilmore and Quintero lay down the groove. Mr. Corea is now a sprite seventy-two years old and his trim figure in t-shirt and jeans gave him the appearance of being a much younger person, especially when he stood to play synthesizer, a keyboard instrument that seems to be a like a fountain of youth for this man. When Mr. Corea uses the instrument's other-worldly sounds to communicate in conversation with his fellow musicians- in one case with the responsive Mr. Garland on tenor saxophone, and then with an equally compliant Mr. McBride on electric bass-he seems to be tapping into some invisible energy field that invigorates his creative juices. When the song allows for a drum solo, Mr. Gilmore creates a battery of sounds that rumble forth like an exploding fusillade of artillery on display. Mr. Garland introduced the woody, resonant sound of his bass clarinet in support, eventually closing the piece on soprano saxophone. Mr. Altura, who along with Mr. Gilmore are the youngest members of Mr. Corea's current group, was curiously stiff and seemed to be playing in water that was a bit over his head for most of the evening. Mr. Corea has been a good judge of talent and it will be interesting to see how well the young Mr. Altura develops on this tour. On this song, Altura's semi-hollow bodied Gibson ES335 guitar rang out with some sensitivity and he provided his best solo of the night. The song created a blissful trip into the forever of Mr. Corea's fertile mind.

"Royalty" is an homage to one of Chick's early mentor's the great drummer Roy Haynes. Corea played with Mr.Haynes as a fellow sideman in Stan Getz's group and later used Haynes on the seminal Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with bassist Miroslav Vitous. Mr. Corea introduced the song with a romantic acoustic piano solo that was subtly moving. Mr. McBride's warm, bellowing bass added to the lush arrangement. Mr. Garland entered on soprano saxophone as the song ascended like a delicate, bejeweled debutante climbing up a grandly winding staircase. All eyes were on Garland as he soared to new heights. The song then sauntered a bit and Mr. Altura added a flowing guitar solo that fit nicely into the changes. But it was Mr. McBride's upright bass that danced to the delight of the crowd. Interjecting snippets of "My Favorite Things" to his solo, McBride's command of what can at times be a lumbering instrument, was truly a lesson in just how artful a sound the instrument can produce in his skillful hands. He is clearly one of the most talented bassist of his generation.

The finale was a song from the new album, a Corea composition cosmically titled "Galaxy 32 Star 4."
The young twenty-seven year old drummer Marcus Gilmore, who just happens to be drummer Roy Haynes grandson, begins the song. Gilmore demonstrates  that rhythmically, at least,  the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Mr. Gilmore is a creative drummer whose has a penchant for syncopated rhythmic lines that he plays predominantly on the toms and rims. He created a whirling, circular, poly rhythmic sound before the band joined him back on stage to start the song behind him. With Mr. McBride on a distinctive Jaco-style electric bass, Mr. Garland was on soprano saxophone and Mr. Corea played on synthesizer and Fender Rhodes. The song took on the distinctive flavor of early Weather Report. The song lasted for the better part of twenty-five minutes, with each of the artists having their turn at soloing generously.

Mr. Corea's latest band the Vigil is in fact just that, a representation of keeping the musical flame alive and preserving the magical connection that happens between an artist and his audiences over generations
 and through the cosmos that is life.

Jazz Up July: The Brubeck Brothers in Columbus Park in Stamford July 17 2013

The Brubeck Brothers Band in Stamford

On a hot, steamy Wednesday evening in July, the sons of piano jazz legend Dave Brubeck entertained a dedicated group of jazz lovers from the Columbus Park stage in downtown Stamford. The Brubeck Brothers band was the second major act in the Jazz in July series. The series brings top notch jazz artists to downtown Stamford. The previously free outdoor concerts now have a nominal ten dollar cover charge. The confusion over the entry charge could have conceivably prevented some people from attending the concert which appeared to be a free event since there was no assigned seating. The concert was somewhat sparsely attended. In addition the public parking garage took advantage of  the event to charge a flat fee of seven dollars whether or not you were attending the event. This less than inviting extra charge sends a mixed message about Stamford's commitment to bringing jazz to the public in an open air event. If these extraneous charges discourage people from coming to these events, it will also discourage top rated performers from committing to  play a venue like Stamford when they play to less than overflowing crowds.

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet featured Chris Brubeck on electric bass and trombone, Dan Brubeck on drums, Chuck Lamb on keyboards and Mike DeMicco on guitar. The first song I heard was a song written by their father Dave titled "Kathy's Waltz." Chris explained that their father was inspired to write this song seeing his daughter Kathy prance around as a young girl in her dance tutu. While most waltz's are in 3/4 time this one was played mostly in 4/4 . The song started out with DeMicco's delicate sounding guitar playing the melody and with Chris on electric bass. Pianist Lamb played a beautiful solo on the black baby grand as the Brubeck brother's carried the rhythm.  Chris played a thoughtful bass solo and guitarist DeMicco finished playing the dancing melody to a bright ending.

Chris introduced the next tune, relating that it was the most recorded song of his father's vast repertoire.
 " In Her Own Sweet Way." was written for Dave's wife Iola, who he was married to for an amazing seventy years. Chris played a mournfully, poignant trombone over the famous melody. Chris Brubeck is a superb trombone player who manages to evoke great emotion through his use of bellowing runs and emotionally laden slurs. Guitarist DeMicco's solo filled the space with beautifully fluid arpeggios. Pianist Lamb and drummer Dan Brubeck anchored the melody throughout.

Before the next song Chris talked about a song not often associated with their father titled "Jazzanians."
The "Jazzanians" was a group of disparate African musicians, some from normally warring tribes, that the eldest brother Darius Brubeck brought together to play music in a school where he taught music in Africa. The Afro-Cuban beat was driven to perfection by Dan Brubeck as he played the complex, dancing rhythm in the most stirring piece of the show. Pianist Lamb seemed to be released from his role as a complimentary musician and played a rousing solo building dramatically to a towering crescendo of sound. Guitarist DeMicco took his turn and was equally torrid in his approach to soloing.The climax of the tune was a series of bombastic, rhythmically diverse solos by the younger Brubeck who demonstrated a intuitive sense of drive and used his entire kit to the delight of the briefly mesmerized crowd.

The group did a beautiful ballad where Chris Brubeck played his most soulful solo on trombone. They followed with the Brubeck classic "Blue Rondo a la Turk," with Lamb, DeMicco and Brubeck playing the staccato melody rapidly in precise 9/8  time. The bluesy 4/4 break in the song, allowed  DeMicco and Chris Brubeck to solo in an extended blues-tinged mode. DeMicco was particularly inventive during his solo. At times he ripped into a rock inspired tirade where he just shredded on his electric guitar in a very gutsy performance that gave the old classic a fusion-like energy.

The finale was topped off with the Paul Desmond classic "Take Five," a tune that single-handedly introduced odd time signatures to the general listening public. The composition's readily identifiable signature line immediately caught the attention of the audience. Chuck Lamb played a ruminative solo that introduced elements of Gershwin's "Summertime" into the piece,  as he wandered in an exploratory excursion.The talented pianist delved into harmonically rich territory that was barely connected to the tune's driving 5/4 line. Guitarist DeMicco took his turn at soloing over the driving time signature that the Brubeck Brothers maintained throughout. Once DeMicco gets started he can create streams of guitar lines that just seem to flow like electrons arcing through the humidity drenched air.

The night air turned out to be appreciatively cooler than when it started, with the music being the most incendiary part of the evening's event. It is certainly laudable that Stamford is attempting to bring top named jazz artists to the City, one would hope that the confusion over the entry and parking fees will be cleared up before the next concert.

The sponsors, which include People's United Bank, Stamford Town Center, Purdue Pharma and Bud Light should be applauded for their generous support of the arts and jazz in particular. The series has a stellar line-up remaining with Poncho Sanchez bringing in his Latin-jazz band to the Park on Wednesday July 24th, the inimitable chanteuse Dianne Reeves brings her wonderful jazz vocals to the Park on Wednesday July 31 and the series ends with the incomparable pianist Chick Corea, bassist Christian McBride, drummer Marcus Gilmore and guitarist Charles Altura.

If we want these world class performers to continue to view Stamford as a vital and thriving community receptive to jazz artists then I truly hope music lovers from the area will turn out in droves to support these musicians and ensure the success of this effort.