2010 April » Shagtastic Voyage

Over the last few days, I have been working on a blog for www.dothanjazz.com called, Local Fav. It’s a new concept for the site where I take a local musician and write about what they are doing. This one was about a trumpet player named Jermaine English who just released a single called It’s Alright. So, since I have been listening to that tune a lot here lately (and digging on it), it qualifies for the DIG blog of the week. I am just going to copy the post here. It includes a little Q&A, too.

From Dothan Jazz (.com):

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Jermaine English has his roots deeply planted in the south. His fascination with the trumpet started at a young age as his love for music led him to Louis Armstrong. By age 11, English had to get it out; he picked up the trumpet and hasn’t looked back. Since then, he has toured and studied with Grammy nominated blues legend Kenny Neal, participated in the Mobile County’s “Jazzin’ in the Schools” program, and held music ministry positions at Life Church (Mobile) and The Ambassador of Christ International Church.

In 2010, English released a single called It’s Alright (available on iTunes and Amazon.com). If you enjoy a smooth trumpet, a euphoric hook, and a great beat, then you need to check this out. Think Kirk Franklin jamming with Miles Davis…For real.

It’s Alright

Q&A:

DJ: What instrument, besides trumpet, grabs you the fastest when you listen to music?

JE: The sound of the piano almost always grabs my attention the fastest. I love chords and voicings. Listening to a lot of Herbie Hancock and Duke Ellington voicings has got me that way. I cant talk about voicings and leave out the great Bill Evans too…

DJ: It’s Alright has a Miles Davis Doo-Bop vibe to it. Was that an influence for the track?

JE: Actually, I still haven’t listened to Miles Doo-Bop album all the way through. I originally intended to make ”It’s Alright” have a type of Spanish tinge to it. It was my producers idea to mix this song with old school hip hop and that’s how it came about.

DJ: What’s your current set up (horn, mouthpiece, etc.)?

JE: I’m using a Lawler Model T trumpet with a Warburton 5v mouthpiece as my set up. It gives me a really huge and smooth sound. I’m also able to go from bright to dark quickly, I know trumpet players will appreciate that.

DJ: Any projects in the works?

JE: I’m working on an entire album for summer. What’s strange is that im more of a traditional jazz guy. This album is meant to draw in people that don’t listen to traditional jazz music. It’s also good music for those lovers of the traditional sound. I plan on covering different styles with different types of instrumentation. It’s not a concept album and I’m not really concerned about marketing or anything, I am just composing works of art that I hope touch the human soul. When I complete this album, I’m returning to a more traditional format with my quintet. John Coltrane was reaching for changing humanity through his music, not that I liken myself to John Coltrane, but I hope to be an extension of that school of thought in some sense.

You can find out more about Jermaine at www.jequintet.blogspot.com/ or on his Facebook fan page.

This week’s DIG is not only a new release (the first for DIG) but it’s also from a bass player (another first). I was hipped to this cat while reading a great blog by Sarah Crisman called Come play with us, New York.

The artist, Yuka Tadano (the YT in YT Little D), is an upright/electric bassist from Ibaraki, Japan who moved to the United States to study jazz at UNT.

The album is called Dancer (2010 Armored) and features Li Xiaochuan on trumpet and flugelhorn, Brian Girley on Alto Sax and Roberto Verastegui on Piano and Rhodes (collectively referred to as Little D).

I can certainly say is that this doesn’t feel like an album that’s led by anyone. The compositional balance is superb. It’s very Ben Allison –ish in that way. The harmonies and laid back tempos/vibe of the album as a whole also reminds me of Allison. It’s a nice collection to sit back and sip a Henny and Cola with.

Dancer by YT Little D is available at DIGSTATION and at CDBaby.

Hope You dig it!

A little more than a week ago, I agreed to do a little gig with a friend of mine. This friend, with whom I have been sharing the stage with at Wiregrass Church for six months or so, is the operator of the flagship location of a local fast food chicken joint called Goldfingers. He wanted to play some jazz at his location and me, being the gig whore that I am, agreed. We agreed that all the tips would go to the local chapter of the Child Advocacy Center who has recently lost its state funding.

We ended up trying this out at the new location of Goldfingers (we will be at the original location this Friday). The gig was not advertised; It was almost like a Jazz Flash Mob (which I am probably going to start doing!)! No one, accept for the employees, knew we were coming so, you can imagine the looks we got when we started unloading.

One of my goals for this year was to give more so when this opportunity came up, I was more than willing. I do a few charity gigs a year and I enjoy the feeling of helping so in that way alone, this gig paid off but, there was a surprise bonus waiting that I didn’t see until half way through the gig…

Kids!! From two year olds to teenagers! They would walk in and stare because they had never seen an upright bass before. They didn’t know what we were about to do! Kids were getting permission to sit outside to listen while their parents ate inside. Some families sat outside as a whole to hear us. So, BAM, all of a sudden, these people (the ones that would never go to a bar or a snooty restaurant that would have live jazz) are hearing Davis and Coltrane and Gershwin and Ellington! They just wanted chicken but they got culture! Who knows, maybe some of those kids will say “mommy, what kind of music was that?” or “can we see them again?”

Sometimes blessings can blindside you. Knowing that we may have planted a seed in young (and older) people who otherwise wouldn’t have had an experience like that is just awesome. I don’t know why I am so passionate about jazz and I can’t explain why this little bitty gig on the patio of a fast food chicken joint has had such an impact on me but I am and, it did and I just wanted to share.

It’s already time for another DIG and man do I have a good one for you! It’s an older album by saxophonist, Chris Potter, that I came across while randomly hitting buttons on my Droid. I’ve loved the album since I first heard it a couple years back and now it has, once again, taken over my music player.

The album is Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard (released in May of 2004 on the Sunny Side label) and features a quartet led by Potter on Tenor Sax. Drums are covered by Bill Stewart with Scott Colley on bass and Kevin Hays – piano, fender rhodes. It’s an awesome tribute to modern jazz and while it does venture to the darkside from time to time, it is, by no means, Avant-Garde. Just give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Chris Potter – Lift

Colley, Hays, and Potter are all ArtistShare members so you can get some really cool extras by supporting them on there. For those of you who don’t know what ArtistShare is, it is a project based program for musicians to raise money for their work. The artist, in exchange for fans’ enrollment in various levels of patronage, gives things like sheet music, videos from rehearsals, and even credit on the album booklet.

Back on the last day of February, I posted a blog which chronicled the first step in recording my upcoming debut studio album. So, here’s an update.

Towards the end of last week, I finished the sixth tune for the album. As I mentioned, I already had a few done. I have two tunes left to complete. One is an adaptation of a solo bass tune I wrote a long time ago called It’s Always Raining. I am arranging it for Drums, bass, and trombone. I also have a ballad in 7/4 that I have started but not yet finished.

The instrumentation for most, if not all, the tunes is going to be the aforementioned trio. That is my favorite set ups right now (read why here) and I really think the music I have written will lend itself well to it. There is a possibility of a guest on a couple of tunes but I will wait to make that call.

I am hoping to start rehearsals in a couple weeks.

A lot of you know that, in an attempt to raise jazz awareness and build a scene in my area, I started a website (www.dothanjazz.com). With this, I have tried to contact all the cats I know or know of and worked on spreading the word so I can add info to the site and dates to the calendar. This has lead to a surprising problem.

: Image via Wikipedia

Most of the cats around here that are playing jazz regularly are a bit older (which I knew). These guys play once or twice a month at low profile, low attendance gigs. You would think they would be OK with taking a second to email me a date or a little info for a listing. Well, they’re not. I understand if they don’t want a lot of attention but if you’re going to play, why not bring in a bigger crowd. If nothing else, just for the tips! It’s not like they have to take any more gigs. They can keep everything just like it is! It is honestly a bit frustrating.

I recently worked with several guys that I had not worked with before. All of these guys are older and have successful day-time careers. I talked to a couple about the entire concept and they loved it. I got their info and support. Some of the other cats, though, completely brushed it off. I even reminded the leader to let me know anytime his group had a public show so I could put it on the calendar. He literally looked at like I was an idiot; like I was asking for all his private gig contacts or…something. Hell, I can’t figure it out. He even said “they don’t allow us to have business cards” and walked off when I asked him for one after the gig. I mean, If you don’t like me, that’s fine. I’m not doing this shit for me. I’m doing it so all the people that might be interested in hearing live jazz can know when and where it’s being played.

I recently got a message on my jazz duo’s MySpace page from a kid (19 yrs old or so) telling me how much he enjoyed our show the night before. He said it was his first live jazz experience and that he had NO CLUE that there was jazz in the area. I was extremely honored to be part of his experience. On the other hand, I knew that there are jazz shows at least a couple times a month in this area but no one promotes it in the right way. That is my goal. Not to steal gigs or even get more people at my gigs. I just want people to KNOW about it.

For a while now, I have been posting links to things I find and love to various places. My point is to support jazz and show people that it’s everywhere and easy to get. I wanted to expand this so I started posting it to Twitter, too. Now, I want to take it even farther. I am going to start posting a sporadic but mostly weekly “DIG” section on my blog to spread the word about things I have been digging on in the prior week. This is not intended to be a review or anything like that. I’m just going to let you know what I’m listening to, reading, or watching that week. It won’t always be new, either. I also intend to simulpost this to my other blog at dothanjazz.com.

The reason I’m calling it DIG is because on all those posts I made to Facebook, I couldn’t think of anything to say accept that I liked it. So, I just started putting DIG.

The first DIG is a video I happened across on YouTube while looking at the Resonance Records channel. It’s a live performance of Blue in Green (Miles Davis) by Marian Petrescu Quartet with Andreas Öberg (guitar), David Finck (bass), and Mark McLean (drums).

The tune, Blue in Green, is off one of my favorite albums, Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). It is one of Davis’ most popular albums, and, as of December 2009, a national treasure.

The venue, Jazz Standard, is another one of my favorites. It’s under (and serves food from) a great Barbecue restaurant called Blue Smoke located on East 27^th Street in New York City.

So, without further ado, here it is.

Shagtastic Voyage

DIG (#4)

DIG (#3)

More Than a Gig

DIG (#2)

New Album Vol 1.5

Cooperation, Please!

DIG #1

Follow Me

Featured DIG albums