Three Recent Concert Appearances in Portland Speak Volumes for the Diversity in Jazz : Ali Ryerson Quartet, Bill Mays Solo, Ben Rosenblum Trio

 The Ali Ryerson Quartet at the 1905 Jazz Club August 10, 2026

Ali Ryerson

The variation of music that you can enjoy in Portland is always a cornucopia of possibilities. The month of August was especially fertile for me. This month, I was able to enjoy the music of three disparate musicians; master flutist Ali Ryerson and three local musicians graced the stage of 1905 Jazz Club in support of her fabulous new album The Ali Ryerson Quartet, the solo pianistic stylings of Bill Mays as featured at Classic Pianos, and the robust musical piano and accordion of the talented Ben Rosenblum and trio brought his own unique approach to the music to the 1905 Jazz Club.

Jasnam Daya Singh, Bill Athens Ali Ryerson and Ken Ollis at the 1905

Monday is an unusual night out for music, but I was privileged to catch the first set of world class flute master Ali Ryerson playing with three sensational local musicians at 1905 on Aug 10th. Ali and I have an unusual connection. We independently knew a pianist who we both cherished, and who had sadly passed away recently. Ryerson’s performance at 1905 gave us a chance to meet in person; recall our common friend, and through the language of music, celebrate his memory. What music it was!  Ryerson was in town for the National Flute Association 54^th annual Convention which was held from Aug 6^th-9^th at the Oregon Convention Center. There she performed with other flute masters like Jeff Coffin, Nestor Torres, and Robert Dick to name a few.

I recently reviewed Ryerson’s latest release The Ali Ryerson Quartet back late June which you can read here. On this wonderful album, Ali re-established herself as a vibrant and potent musician who is still considered one of the top players on her instrument. The album has been well received and rode the charts prominently for several weeks.

On this evening, Ryerson engaged pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, bassist Bill Athens, and drummer Ken Ollis. These local musicians were accomplished and complimentary to Ryerson’s skill at both flute and baritone flute. The set opened with Chick Corea’s “Windows,” was first played on flute by Hubert Laws on his Atlantic release Laws Cause from 1969.  Ryerson plays her “C” flute with authority on this composition, giving that exploratory ethereal feel that makes this wonderful piece so enchanting. Athens’ pizzicato work is inventive, and Singh pianistic accompaniment subtle and understated. The set continued with Thad Jones’ post-bop swinger “3 and 1,” with Ryerson taking up her alto flute to replace Jones flugelhorn from the original. Athens and Ollis maintain the pace impeccably as Ryerson’s deeper toned alto solo cooks. The set continued with Ryerson introducing her own interpretation of Steve Swallow’s classic “Falling Grace” which is the perfect vehicle for Ryerson, Singh and Athens to each offer their own solo takes on the theme. Ryerson appropriately returned to her alto flute on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Birks Works,” a blues bop classic that offers Ryerson the chance to strut some of the bluer side of her repertoire. The group played a beautiful ballad by pianist Singh which featured the group’s sensitive side. Then one of my favorites was Ryerson’s reimagining of a Jerome Kern’s classic renamed “Before Today/Yesterdays” with Ali returning to her “C” flute and some notable solos by her, Athens on bass and a rousing drum spotlight by Ollis. The show ended with Ryerson graciously inviting up another flutist, the Japanese artist Yuko Hoshi, to play on a bossa nova-based tune with the band, providing an interesting comparison of the two stylists. The set ended with another Brazilian samba, with Ali and band showing their Brazilian influenced chops. The sold-out audience left the venue with a satisfying smile on their faces. Ryerson’s performance certainly left no doubt she is still one of the eminent jazz flautists of her era.  If you are a fan of swinging, jazz-centered music, then The Ali Ryerson Quartet will certainly be a enduring, enjoyable addition to your collection.

 

Bill Mays Solo Piano at The George Fendel Concert Series -Classic Pianos Aug 16, 2026

Bill Mays at the Piano at Classic Pianos in Portland

On Sunday August 16th, at a beautifully renovated building, purportedly dating from the eighteen hundreds, houses a thirty-thousand-foot piano showroom and service center for Classic Pianos, owned by the Unis Family, down off Powell Blvd in Portland. 

Classic Pianos 1010 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR

There, in a tucked away recital area, I got to see the highly regarded pianist Bill Mays at a solo performance. Mays performance was part of the George Fendel Concert Series, now managed by Patrick Springer. This is a new series to me and one that clearly adds another rewarding element to the music scene in Portland. Fendel was a local jazz radio DJ, jazz pianist and jazz aficionado who started the series in 2010. He unfortunately transitioned this year.

George Fendel (photo credit unknown)

The venue seated perhaps seventy admirers who got to experience an up close and personal performance by Mays. Now eighty-two, Mays facility is still marvelous.  I have been a fan of Mays since I was exposed to his Invention Trio’s Palmetto album Fantasy released in 2007.  The trio featured Mays on piano and composition, the talented Marvin Stamm on trumpet and flugelhorn and Alisa Horn on cello. The music was a fusion of classical composition with modern jazz improvisation. A hybrid that some people would call chamber jazz.

On this evening, Mays played on a Yamaha grand and opened with JC Handy’s “Memphis Blues.” The man exudes a joyful presence when he is behind the keyboard. He included rhapsodic intros that preceded the melody with flair and style. He used a walking left hand as a bass line and his right foot bounced keeping the time. There were elements of stride and boogie Woogie that created an exuberance that primed the audience for what was to come.

Bill Mays

Mays is a consummate performer. He continued with the beautiful Jobim ballad “Estate”     (Summer) opening the music strumming of the strings of the piano like a harp. The Brazilian sway of the song was just another aspect of the pianist’s repertoire. Mays followed with a composition that he titled “Mike” as a tribute to the musician Mike Wofford, a fellow pianist who passed away in 2025 and was an accompaniest to Sarah Vaughan, Mel Tormé, and Ella Fitzgerald. The music had Mays in swing mode, and he offered some right-handed creative improvised lines as he maintained the bass line with his left. The pianist also scatted a little in coordination with his piano lines. Mays was enjoying himself and the audience was captured by his showmanship and talent.

The set included a song he wrote that was inspired by a watercolor made by his wife Judy who was present in the audience. The painting evoked play long, flowing lines that ascended and descended wonderfully up and down the keyboard. For the straight-ahead fans, Mays played Thad Jones “3 in 1,” utilizing a cooking hard bop piano style that sizzled. The music featured Billy Strayhorn’s beautiful composition “Chelsea Bridge” which he dedicated to George Fendel.

Not to leave out cinematic music from the repertoire, Mays played the “Theme to Godfather II” written by Nino Roti, and including the improvisational embellishments, the familiarity of the music grabbed the audience favorably as expected.

Bill Mays on the keyboard up close

Bill Evan’s “Waltz for Debbie” is always a favorite of pianists, and Mays made his take beautiful with wonderfully creative harmonic variations and chordal runs that made the experience worth the price of admission. Mays is a storyteller on his keyboard, and he continued with classics like “Young and Foolish,” which he read from the lyrics. Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” preceded Mays doing something unusual, three separate Prelude’s to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” which I had never heard before and which demonstrated creativity and impressive facility. The set ended with the Gershwin Brothers tin pan alley torch song “Someone to Watch Over You” and with Antonin Dvorak’s “Goin’ Home” where the pianist played inside the piano on the strings creating a zither-like sound.

If the performance of Bill Mays is any indication of the kind of top-rate solo piano concerts you can experience here in Portland at the George Fendel Concert Series at Classic Pianos, then a word to the wise should suffice.

 

The Ben Rosenblum Trio at The 1905 Jazz Club Aug 23, 2026

Ben Rosenblum and Greg Finegold at 1905

The final performance I caught this month was up and coming pianist/accordionist Ben Rosenblum and his trio at the 1905 Jazz Club on August23rd. I got a chance to speak with Rosenblum before the early show. He indicated he was doing a short West Coast tour in promotion of his latest album The Longest Way Around” which was released in February of this year to promising reviews. Ben is another of those musicians that exude love when creating and sharing music. He is a rumpled sort of bespeckled guy with copiously flowing hair and a scraggy-bearded face. Under that visage is a talented musician who seems to have cross pollinated the multiple inspirations that seem to show up in his music. There is a pianistic vibrancy here. Rosenblum amalgamizes elements of Americana, Cajun, New Orleans Dixieland, Latin, Irish and other folk music, as well as boisterous, Storyville inspired saloon-style music to make what he plays all his own. Mostly, he just has fun! The diverse elements seem to fit seamlessly. He has found a way to integrate his accordion playing into his world-inspired jazz music, similarly to the way the Argentinian and Uruguayan musicians have made the use of the Bandoneon into a critical part of Tango music.

Ben Rosenblum

Rosenblum, who now calls Brooklyn his home, was joined bassist Greg Finegold from Seattle, and the drummer Ben Zweig, whom he traveled with on this tour. The music started with a song first recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio at Carnegie Hall and released in 1949 titled “Bop Kick.” It’s a quick-paced bebop song that requires agile facility from the pianist. Rosenblum’s fingers floated across the keyboard as the bassist and drummer kept the pace. Zweig drum skill was featured and finished playing the drum kit with his bare hands.

Rosenblum’s ballad “Henry and the Sunset” is a slow bossa that showed the pianist’s sensitive side and offered a solo by Goldstein and subtle mallet work by Zweig.

The crowd was treated to “Sheridan’s Reel” a traditional Irish dance song dedicated to an old passed friend of Rosenblum’s, Michael Sheridan. Rosenblum called up a guest percussionist Brad Dutz, who appeared on Ben’s latest album The Longest Way Round, to play bones and percussion on this reel. The music burst with jubilance as Rosenblum picked up his accordion for this one. The song was filled with eighth notes and in 2/4 time.  Watching Rosenbaum play his squeeze box with such emotional abandon and honest joy, it was hard for the audience to not get up and dance!  Zweig and Dutz added percussion accents that just added to the juice.

Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project- The Longest Way Round-One Trick Dog Music

The set continued with another bossa, before Duke Ellington and Lawrence Brown’s “On a Turquoise Cloud.”  This is an impressionistic piece that originally featured wordless vocals by Kay Davis, bass clarinet by Harry Carney, trombone work by Lawrence Brown and violin by Ray Nance. Rosenblum didn’t have that kind of diverse instrumental palette to pull from here, but he offered his own gorgeously expressed piano take that had embellishments that recalled Erroll Garner.

Rosenblum returned to his accordion on the waltz he wrote “Living Stream” from his album A Thousand Pebbles from 2023. Dance was in the air when “Bamboula” a Creole/African dance rhythm that Rosenblum used it as the basis for the next song that he apparently improvised while on piano. Zweig and Dutz added their percussive accents to this one.

The set finished with Rosenblum’s reimagination of the Beatles’ classic “Fool on the Hill.”  Ben admitted to being most influenced by the Sergio Mendez Brazilian inspired take on the song, but suffice it say that Brazil 66 never had the added dimension of Ben’s accordion for their version. He couldn’t have ended this triumphal appearance better.

Eberhard : An Orchestral Homage by Lyle Mays

Lyle Mays : Eberhard Self Produced

The pianist/composer Lyle Mays, shockingly to many of us, transitioned on February 10, 2020. His niece Aubrey Johnson, a talented jazz vocalist, said only that his untimely passing was the result of

 “…a long battle with a recurring illness.”  No further clarification of Mays’ medical condition has ever been revealed publicly.

Lyle Mays Photo credit  Wayne Scott Jones

During his closing days, Mays devoted himself to honing, polishing, and completing a musical project that had consumed him over the years, a recordable dedication to one of his early inspirations, the progressive double bassist Eberhard Weber. Mays first started playing the armature of this composition back in 2009 at a festival in his home state of Wisconsin. The German bassist had suffered a stroke in 2007, and so Mays’ first public performance of this piece was as much a healing, a musical encouragement to Weber to recover, as it was a homage to the man, his work, and its influence. Sadly, Weber’s medical setback was more permanent than originally hoped for. The now eighty-one-year-old bassist has never played again. 

Mays came to national prominence for his work as the collaborator and co-composer of the Pat Metheny Group.  During that period Mays always left his unmistakable imprimatur on some of the group’s most endearing records. The artist won ten Grammy Awards and was nominated twenty-three times over the years.  Despite his importance to the success of the PMG, Mays was satisfied to work his musical and technological magic, mostly avoid the spotlight and be satisfied to play the sidekick to Metheny, his Doc Holiday to Pat’s Wyatt Earp at their musical OK Corral. Throughout his life he was always fascinated with technology, chess, architecture and mu

Mays was playing piano and organ from a young age. He attended North Texas State University (later University of North Texas) and won his first nomination as the composer/arranger for his work on the album Lab ’75 with the school’s One O’clock Lab Band.

North Texas State University Lab'75

While still a student, Mays performed at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1975 and it is interesting to look at the festival’s performer list from that year as this event proved to be pivotal to Mays' future career. Exploring a musician’s trajectory is always of interest and timely intersections with other musicians often lead to life-changing paths.

 

From WJF 25 years of Great Jazz Compilation by Gary Hess

Mays’ Student Quartet included bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Steve Houghton, and woodwind player Pete Brewer.

It was unpredictable the way new connections casually made at venues like the WJF could be so important to a young musician’s future. For the bassist, Marc Johnson stars somehow cross each other’s paths and the festival likely served as an informal entre to the pianist Bill Evans. Johnson was eventually chosen to replace a departing Gomez in Evans’ last trio with drummer Joe LaBarbera, and he did so from 1978 until Evans’ death in 1980. No doubt a life-changing experience for the bassist. Johnson went on to a stellar career as one of jazz’s most respected bassists. He remained associated with his classmate Mays for years with his sonorous double bass heard on six of the keyboardist’s recordings as a leader including  The Ludwigsburg Concert from 2015. 

Drummer Steve Houghton continued his career as a respected sideman, eventually turning to academia, becoming a respected associate professor of percussion at Indiana University among other institutions. Woodwind artist Pete Brewer would continue his career as a successful freelance musician.

If you look at the artist roster for the 1975 Wichita Jazz Festival, the lineup had s a plethora of great drummers that included Max Roach, Ed Soph, Mickey Roker, and Bob Moses (with Burton), but you will also see other important acts including Woody Herman’s Young Herd, Bill Evans Trio, and Gary Burton’s group which included the young guitarist, Pat Metheny. Woody Herman, the legendary bandleader, and clarinetist must have liked what he saw of the Lyle Mays Quartet in Wichita. Shortly thereafter Mays, Brewer, and Houghton were recruited to become new members of Herman’s traveling Thundering Herd later in 1975. Mays was to be the keyboardist for Herman for eight months into 1976 until another Wichita twist of fate would change his path again. Mays and the Metheny first met at the Wichita festival in 1975. They mutually found that they had musically compatible goals. Metheny would leave Burton and Mays left Herman and the two decided to start a new group.  The group would record and release their first collaboration Watercolors in 1977 under Metheny’s name. The collaboration would be a rich one and it would last for most of twenty-eight years through their last recording together as the Pat Metheny Group This Way Up in 2005. By that time, traveling and presumably, health issues induced Mays to call it quits.

Watercolors ECM 1977

Watercolors would be Mays' first opportunity to work with the progressive European bassist Eberhard Weber. Metheny had worked with Weber while he was with vibraphonist Gary Burton on his albums Ring from 1974 and Passengers from 1976.  Mays again played with Weber on the bassist’s album Later That Evening from 1982. There is little doubt that the German’s playing influenced both these young American pioneers.

Despite being strongly influenced by his classical training, a musical history that he shared with Mays, Weber created his own minimalist, ostinato-based, ethereal, and melancholic approach to his work. He was most likely influenced by the avant-garde composers Steve Reich and Terry Riley. By the early seventies, Weber designed and preferred a five-string-electric bass that extended the instrument’s range, adding more depth and drama to his playing. He was never a boisterous performer who commanded attention. Instead, he wanted his music to speak for itself.  Like the free-jazz movement that went off in one direction that veered away from traditional hard bop jazz, or even the frenetic fusion of the early seventies, Weber’s music was a detour that embraced a gentler, more thoughtful approach. There is no doubt Weber’s musical approach, almost chamber-like, was a serious signpost that caught Mays’ attention.

Eberhard is a thirteen-minute opus of pure Mays’ magic. It is a splendid piece of mostly through-composed music. Mays explores elements of classical, jazz, chamber, minimalism, vocalization, and cinematic musical qualities. Typical of Mays’ work, the piece has a tonal depth and emotional reach that displays the man’s expansive concept of what music should be. While the work is a homage to Weber, the music is pure Mays.

Mallett artist Wade Culbreath opens the piece with a repeating tonal movement that creates an almost other-worldly atmosphere upon which Mays solemn pianistic probing floats. Jimmy Johnson’s electric bass bellows beautifully with authority and poignancy in what I have read is a fully composed part. Mays’ niece, the vocalist Aubrey Johnson, enters the scene with a feathery vocalization that has angelic elements as she vocally traces the music lines emphatically. At one point, Mays’ piano has a very bluesy crossed with Americana feel to it that has always been part of his style. Steve Rodby’s beautiful double bass anchors the time with its fluid bottom tone. Bob Sheppard’s flute is introduced for another tonal factor that adds to the orchestration along with some electronic synthesizing effects that seem to be a identifiable part of Mays’ signature style. A quartet of cellos seamlessly adds to the pallet of tonal possibilities. Mallett, piano, flute, bass, and drum interact swelling with energy, and Bill Frisell’s twangy guitar voice briefly makes its appearance. The separate voices of Johnson and Rosana and Gary Eckert almost conjoin. They meld like three pieces of gold transforming into one brilliant ingot by the heat of a scorching crucible that is Mays' music. Jimmy Branly’s drum work erupts like percolating lava, and Alex Acuna adds perceptive percussive accents that just increase the temperature of the rhythmic brew that Mays compositionally constructs. Culbreath and Johnson beautifully match each other’s notes like two empathetic savants.  Mays introduces a jazz septet that gets into a fiery vibe section that is the apex of the piece. The section includes some perceptive organ work by Mitchel Forman, with Mays on piano, the explosive Branly on drums, subtle Acuna on percussion, Steve Rodby’s strong acoustic bass, and the multi-reed master Bob Sheppard’s tenor saxophone. 

Sheppard’s improvised solo runs for a little over two and half minutes and starts at about the 8:24 minute mark. It is a masterwork of controlled passion powered by a internal sweltering fire that he can call on at any time as is needed. Mays’ orchestrates the music to the summit and then allows Culbreath’s gorgeous, resonant mallet work and some of his own synth accents to melt the piece away, like a fading crimson sunset, turns the sky into a brilliant pastel haze.

The more I listen to this, the more I aurally observe the nuances of his orchestration, the more I realize how much we will miss Lyle Mays and his beautiful world of sonic colors. Eberhard could certainly be positioned as Lyle Mays epitaph, his crown jewel, but while it certainly is his last recorded work, I am sure that Mr. Weber will listen to this piece, love it and it will certainly put a bittersweet smile on his face.  This work should excite those of us who have loved Mays'work for so long, to go back and revisit the body of this exceptional artist's life work. If we do this, we will undoubtedly honor this man’s legacy in the fashion he intended it to be listened to, with joy.

"Candlelight" time during the pandemic: Juliet Kurtzman and Pete Malinverni

Candlelight  Love in the Time of Cholera 
Juliet Kurtzman and Pete Malinverni

There is a sense of anticipation when I attend a performance by or listen to a new album from the pianist/educator Pete Malinverni. I have had the good fortune to have met this gifted musician on several occasions, mostly at his entertaining jazz afternoons at the Pound Ridge Community Church in New York, when I lived in nearby Connecticut.  I even had the chance to do an illuminating interview with the pianist around the time of the release of his album A Beautiful Thing in 2013. 

Malinverni is one of those rare musicians that exudes an aura of authenticity, wonder, and joy when he plays, and he seems to have found an important validity, a spirituality, a faith that sustains him through music. As he has said, “Music to me is the voice of God…” 

At SUNY Purchase, where he is the Director of Jazz Studies, Pete has been instrumental as an educator and mentor, inspiring a growing group of up and coming musicians.

On his latest album Candlelight, Love in the Time of Cholera, Malinverni is joined by the violinist Juliet Kurtzman, a new name to me. She is a classically trained violinist from Houston who has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, studied at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and joined the Luzern Orchestra in Switzerland as first violinist.

The duo presents a musical hybrid, an amalgam blending classical chamber sensibilities with jazz colorations arranged and accompanied by Malinverni on piano and featuring the gorgeous sensitivity of Kurtzman’s emotive violin. 

In the liner notes, Malinverni relates, “In times of upheaval- war, pestilence, heartbreak-there are things we turn for solace and enlightenment. Love, passion, and living for others…allowing us to reach beyond ourselves, confidently face adversity, and find the good.”

Candlelight, Love in the Time of Cholera, in no small part, is inspired by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's romantic story. The book celebrates lovesickness that is likened to having cholera. The yearning endures despite half of a century of love being unrequited. Today we are faced with our own pandemic; a viral scourge that has immobilized our daily lives and stymied our personal contacts. It has cramped our creativity, erased our civility and trust, and tested our resolve. But creativity cannot be forever thwarted. Matching up the seemingly disparate elements, structured classical and improvisational jazz, these two artists demonstrate the universality of music and the joy that it can bring as an elixir of hope to get us through these trying times.

The Argentinian music of the tango is beautifully expressed throughout the album.  Malinverni’s opening “Pulcinella” is modern and vibrant. Gardel’s moving but more traditional “Por Una Cabeza” finds Kurtzman the most expressive and sensitive. Malinverni’s “Love in the Time of Cholera” is a luscious delight, a musical aperitif you can envision enjoying leisurely, listening on an unrushed afternoon in a verdant garden café with someone you love.  

It is Astor Piazzolla’s “Oblivion” that is perhaps the most tender and moving collaboration on the album. Kurtzman’s playing is sensitive and sweeping. Admittedly, the violinist misses the gutsy bravado of a jazz master like a Grappelli, but don’t sell her short when it comes to being able to pull your emotional strings and grab you with her poignancy and tone. Pizzolla would have been pleased. Malinvenri’s supple piano solo is a treasure of sensitivity and creative engagement on a human level.

“Body and Soul” is a classic jazz standard that was made famous by tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Malinverni opens with a creative, slightly dissonant piano intro before Kurtzman’s moving violin uses the Coleman saxophone solo for inspiration. Pete’s piano work here is the most expressive as he sets the rhythm in stride-like accompaniment.  

Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke ( Photo credit Unknown)

Malinverni’s take on Bix Beiderbecke’s compositions caught my attention. Even though Beiderbecke was primarily known as a cornetist, all the songs included on this album were written and played by him on piano, with the exception of ‘Davenport Blues.”

 I first heard “In A Mist” from a Freddie Hubbard album Sky Dive from 1972 and always found the music to be intriguing. The music has been described as a cross between Debussy and Ellington. Malinverni’s arrangement features Kurtzman’s violin navigating the interesting changes with aplomb and some amount of bravado that the composition encourages. The music radiates a sense of Debussy-like grace and calm and these two artists are skillfully faithful to this in their playing. 

“Candlelights” is a warm, jaunty melody and a touching vehicle for Kurtzman and Malinverni to demonstrate their simpatico communicating skills. All of Bix’s music comes from the late twenties or early thirties, he died at the early age of twenty-eight, and there is a reverence to the music while still allowing for some modernizing in Malinverni’s deft arrangements.

“In the Dark,” (a song that master pianist Dick Hyman did a fabulous job with it in 2008 https://youtu.be/n3aWPlJfPA0) also finds this duo skillfully synchronizing their lines like two artists conjoined to Bix’s gorgeous melody. The most raucous tune, “Davenport Blues,” has the most predictable form and probably finds Kurtzman most pressed to adapt her classical style on this true blues song. Malinverni's jazz history allows him to immediately adjust his playing to suit the down to earth style that the tune demands. “Flashes” is the final Beiderbecke composition on the cd and has a gracious melody that the two musicians seem to demonstrate some real intuitive simpatico in their playing.

Set aside the fifty-four minutes it takes to listen through Candlelight, Love in the Time of Cholera and allow yourself the leisure to really enjoy the artistry, the joy, the love, and the precious relaxation that Kurtzman and Malinverni have offered to us all as the answer to these stressful times.

Awaiting "Our New World" the Sirkis/Bialas I Q

Sirkis/Bialas IQ: Our New World Moonjune MJR099

The Sirkis/Bialas I Q (International Quartet) is an impressive, global-based group, employing expressive creativity, virtuosity, and international folk-music influences to infuse their music making it authentic and visceral. 

On their latest Our New Earth, the leader and composer, Israeli percussionist Asaf Sirkis employs a variety of instrumentation (Crotales, Manjira and a Frame drum) and rhythmic vocal techniques including Konnakol (a southern Indian vocalized percussion technique.) to bring in a Middle Eastern and Southern Indian taste to his music.

Asaf Sirkis and Sywia Bialas

The co-leader, Polish vocalist Sylwia Bialas, wrote five of the compositions here and has a beautiful vocal instrument that she controls with skilled aplomb and elastic pliability. She has an impressive range and a well-developed sense of timing, dynamics, and presence.

British keyboard player Frank Harrison attended Berklee on scholarship and demonstrates his accomplished ability as an inventive soloist as well as an intuitively strong accompaniest.

Bassist Kevin Glasgow is an impressive six-string electric bassist who can anchor complex rhythms and is especially expressive in the upper register with his fluid lines that are very guitar-like.

This two-disc offering is stylistically packaged and displays beautiful cover artwork. Produced by Leonardo Pavkovic's progressive Moonjune records, the cd is musically teeming with creativity and optimism. There is an unabashed romantic hopefulness to this album and as Sirkis has explained they wanted “ …to reflect the change and turmoil that are happening globally right now…” and to use their music to “…express the wish that when all the madness subsides we will have a better place to live in…”Our New Earth.”

The original compositions are more like musical excursions where these four gifted musicians paint a hopeful horizon employing gorgeous sonic colors and simpatico interaction. The music swirls, elevating and mystifying the listener, utilizing deft orchestrations, beguiling vocalizations, and draws on a wellspring of rhythmic variations of international flavor.

There are classical, sometimes chamber-jazz elements to this music, albeit string-less. Harrison’s splendid pianistic creations are captivating and Bialas’ acrobatic vocalizations trace melodic lines precisely. Glasgow’s bass work also adds a burnished timbre and a fleet facility that compliments the songs with another component of interest.  Bialas sings predominantly in Polish, evoking a pure and transcendental quality to her voice. Undoubtedly Eastern European in lineage, her vocalizations to me, nonetheless evoke how Brazilian Flora Purim vocalized her work with Chick Corea back in the early seventies. Sirkis is an accomplished fusion drummer who can be bombastic, here he restrains himself, creating more subtle rhythms and provides a floating backdrop that accents the music beautifully with taste and sonic variety. 

Bialas’ high-pitched yipping on the opening of her “Rooting” from “The Earth Suite” has an almost primitive, indigenous-like feel both intriguing and skillful. Sirkis’ uses rythmic-driven vocalization-Konnakol, over his droll-like use of the Manjira on “Our New Earth,” and in conjunction with Bialas captures the essence of a southern Indian meditation-like music.

The album is like a suite and deserves being heard as a unified concept. The music includes Sirkis’ “Land of Oblivion,” with lyrics by Bialas “Letter to A.,”      "Our New World,” “The Message from the Blue Bird,” "The Spooky Action at A Distance” and “Picture from a Polish Wood.” Bialas’ compositions included the aforementioned “Rooting,” “If Pegasus Had One Wing,” “Reminiscence, ”Chiaroscuro, and ”Nocturnity.”  

There is much to hear, to savor,and to enjoy on Our New Earth so pick this one up and enjoy the possibilities.

Jamie Baum's "Bridges" Spans the gap between Multiple Musical Traditions

Jamie Baum's Septet + Bridges : Sunnyside SSC-1502

The New York based flautist Jamie Baum has made a name for herself as both an accomplished musician and a formidable composer/arranger. Her composing for mid-sized groups is some of the finest and most creative on the contemorry music scene. I've been a fan of her music since I first heard her brilliant 2008 record Solace. 

Despite some changes in personnel over the years, with her Septet+,she has always managed to assemble and lead a group of talented, like-minded musicians that each bring something special to her musical table. With Baum's music, she downplays her own individual viruosity, never seeming to have the inclination to feature herself in her work, content instead to let the whole of her musical compositions speak as a unified vision. 

On her latest album, aptly titled Bridges, she has released an album of nine original compositions that feature the unique musical skills of her seven bandmates. The music is a the result of a Guggenheim fellowship that allows artists such as Baum the time and resources to create. The instrumentation is itself a bit unusual- flute, trumpet, saxophone and bass clarinet, French horn, electric guitar, piano, upright bass, drums and even a Tibetan singing bowl. Special guests bring additional percussion, voice and tanpura to the mix.

The album is a adroit mixture, with elements of Middle-Eastern or Maqam, Jewish, Indian and Nepalese, Southeast Asian, rock, chamber music and jazz. 

Starting out with the driving “From the Well” the group shows how well this instrumentation can tackle this complicated frenzied beat. The music accelerates like a darting roadrunner across the desert sand until Baum’s flute emerges. Her lines flow like bubbling spring water from an oasis. Sam Sidigursky’s bass clarinet offers a sinewy, snake charmer-like solo before Amir ElSaffar’s clarion trumpet rings over the horizon like a cry to action.

Baum employs ElSaffar’s distinct voice to sing her poignant “Song Without Words,” which is a dedication to her late father. ElSaffar’s voice drips with emotional content. Sidigursky’s bass clarinet solo is a masterwork of expressiveness. Baum’s own solo is soft and feathery, floating on the wings of her fond memories. Baum uses Comer’s distinctive French horn, an instrument not normally heard in jazz, to great effect here.

“There Are No Words” starts with a pedal point by pianist Escreet over which Baum and Sagdigursky play a weaving synchronous line. Bassist Zach Lober offers a deep toned solo, which leads into a Baum solo that features a subtle echo effect giving it a windswept sound. Pianist John Escreet has been on my radar for some time.  His facile keyboard work is harmonically complex, always unusual and played with the utmost sensitivity.

The album then proceeds into a five-part suite that Honors Nepal and commemorates the catastrophic Gorkha earthquake that occurred in April of 2015. The natural disaster took nearly nine thousand lives and injured another twenty-two thousand.

The suite starts with Part 1 “The Earthquake” with the peaceful drone of a Tibetan singing bell which permeates the air before a somber, almost funereal horn movement gently plays over it. Then all hell breaks loose. Brad Shepik’s distorted guitar wizardry recreates the havoc of the quake in all its electric kineticism as Jeff Hirshfield’s roiling drums boil underneath. The sounds are disturbing but recreate the chaos and trauma of the event.

Part 2 of the suite, entitled “Renewal,” is appropriately uplifting. The music is played brilliantly by Sadigursky on alto and Baum on flute with Escreet’s flittering piano work, all conjuring up images of Phoenix-like new growth making its purposeful way into the sunshine and through destruction of the aftermath of the earthquake.

Part 3 “Contemplation” is a gorgeous chamber piece with sounds of French Horn, Bass Clarinet and trumpet all intertwining with booming bass lines, subtle brush strokes and carefully placed piano notes to create a tapestry of sound. Escreet’s piano solo is superb in both its flawless execution and aural beauty.

“Joyful Lament” is perhaps the most memorable of the songs on the album. It is based on a melody by the Pakistani vocalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahan called “Lament.” Baum admits to having arranged the composition with guitarist Brad Shepik in mind and he does not disappoint. The band plays on as Shepik builds his own searing guitar lines into an ascension of sorts, taking his solo into the heavens with his own blend of rock-inspired shredding. This is an easy candidate for most inspired instrumental solo of the year.

“Mantra” is a drone-like creation that finds Baum’s echoed flute in interplay with Navin Chettri’s haunting  voice and twanging tanpura. The music is mystical and the lightly played gongs make it a meditative piece.

“U Cross Me” is the album’s finale and starts off with some syncopated piano notes by Escreet and percussion by Jamie Haddad. The horns and reeds play in a downwardly cascading pattern that is quite unusual. Then they all come together in a display of precise synchronicity. Hirshfield and Lober lay down a more traditional driving rhythmic structure over which the group plays. The syncopation continues as all the instruments find their voice in a cacophony of expression before Shepik’s guitar breaks it all open with another scorching solo.

With Bridges Jamie Baum has somehow managed to span the gap between multiple musical traditions and successfully integrate them all into a coherent genre that is all its own.

Review of Project Trio: A Whole New Approach to Chamber Jazz

Review of : Project Trio’s : Project Trio

From the opening notes of this unusual cd you know that you are in for something a little different. The playful nature of Greg Pattillo’s breathy flute sound is at once intriguing, entertaining and totally different from any sound that you maybe expecting or have probably ever heard. Pattillo is perhaps best known as a practitioner par excellence of a technique known as  “beat box” flute playing. “Beat Boxing” is the practice of using your mouth to create drum sounds and is an important part of the rap music genre. Pattillo, although not the first to incorporate this technique into flute playing, is certainly one of its most accomplished artists. A You Tube video featuring him playing “Inspector Gadget” at  has gone viral, reportedly receiving over 21 million views! He has taken his classical training on flute, along with formidable chops and added the rhythmic element of “beat boxing” to his repertoire extending the sonic palette of the flute.

His fellow and equally talented trio members Eric Stephenson on cello and Peter Seymour on bass (both classically trained musicians who have been members of major symphonies in their own right) combine to form Project Trio, a genre blending chamber music group that blurs the lines between classical, jazz and various contemporary and alternative music forms.

Now based in Brooklyn- the epicenter of modern music-under the moniker of Project Trio, the three have released a new album of the same name that deserves serious attention.

The raucous “Dr Nick" is a memorable repeating melody, reminiscent of early Jethro Tull. The beat is made all the more alive, combining multiple rhythmic elements including Pattillo’s “box beat” flute and  percussive playing on the bodies of their instruments by Seymour and Stephenson, all deftly intertwined with pizzicato and bowed string parts to create a joyous musical experience.

 

The Trio has a conversational sensibility that crosses into instrumental folk music with a playful storytelling motif especially on tunes like “Dup Dup”. “Fast” is a skillful exercise in each musician’s dexterity.

Their more straight ahead treatment of Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo A la Turk” , from the classic album "Time Out" is an interesting and faithful take on a piece of music that was one of a signpost for classically influenced jazz.

“City of Dreams”, a poetic take on Brooklyn, is the only vocalized song on the album. It may well be a bow to the alternative rock of the early 90’s band Soul Coughing. Mark Gurarie’s vocal, a stream of consciousness poem-like rant, seems inspired by the band’s Mike Doughty to my ears.

“Visual Machine” is a sonic delight with Stephenson and Seymour combining to weave wonderfully evocative arco duets behind Pattillo’s repeating rhythmic flute patterns. Pattillo’s flute at times has an almost aboriginal sound to it. He is capable of eliciting sounds that range from the most softly sublime, almost spiritual whispers to the most slashing howls.

“Grass” is a cross into bluegrass territory, with an oompah bass line from Seymour and a fiddle-like, hoe-down quality emanating from Stephenson’s cello that gets your feet stomping. Great fun.

“Arco/Pizz” is a reference to the bowing and picking techniques used in string instruments and both are used in this solemn piece, which most closely resembles true chamber music.

The final song is remake of a “Guns ‘n Roses” composition titled “Sweet Child O’ Mine" which will undoubtedly afford the group greater accessibility to a wider, more popular music oriented audience who can  identify with the familiar melody of this song.

It is nice to see a group of talented musicians create a music that blurs lines between classical chamber, jazz and alternative popular music so successfully. Creating bridges by using their unique vision, their formidable skills while maintaining an unbridled joy that is infectious and has mass appeal. 

Project Trio in a jazz vein plays Charles Mingus's "Fables of Faubus"

Musicians: Greg Pattillo ( flute); Eric Stephenson (Cello); Peter Seymour ( bass) & Mark Gurarie (vocal on City of Dreams)

Recorded 2009 Brooklyn, NY.