Author's Note

As stated, here is first bit from literary effort, Iron Lions:

AUTHOR'S NOTE
This is a work of fiction.
Butthe chgaracters and the scenarios depicted in the following
pages spring from my fervent desire to present a different
reality for jazz/improvised music, first and foremost in my
home country, but also in other parts of the world where
mindless, soulless, pre-packaged pop reigns and where ignorance
is worn like a badge(or a designer logo).

Preachy, I know, but that is the wellspring of this work,
and I cannot help but acknowlegdge it.

there will always be those who for whatever reason, won't
appreciate much less be passionate about jazz. Uniformity
in musical tastes is not noly unrealistic but unwelcome.

But for too long, I feel, the balance has been tipped in
favour of the artificial(Of course, jaz isn't the only "real"
music out there, just the one I most identify with). All I
seek to do is restore some diversity, or at least a sense
of diversity.

This is a work of fiction. But the characters and
scenarios are out there, folded into the recesses
of our ephemeral pop culture.

They just need a little help to emerge.

Reid Inna Babylon

Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus
Originally uploaded by ercu.

Why, its Reid Anderson of the Bad Plus(as if), pefroming at local club Babylon during the Istanbul Jazz festival

Guess Who

Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus
Originally uploaded by ercu.

From our man in Istanbul, ercu, this shot from the Istnabul Jazz Festival. A clearer shot to follow.

Here We Go Again

At this rate, we have more hurricane posts than music posts before the season ends (officially) in November.
Emily is rushing towards the south coast, with more rain for already waterlogged areas promised as early as tonight.
Still, we're thankful. Keeping our heads up

Post no. 101 - Battle of the Bands for Jamaica

Word out of the Griot Music enterprise of guitarist/composer/
publisher Seretse Small is tha he has secured the Jamaican
franchise for the 2005 renewal ofthe Global Battel of the Bands.
Billed as the biggest live championship for popular music, the event
was first staged in november last year, involving bands from 16
countries. The websiste, gbob.com lsists only 2 rules: no covers,
and no pre-recorded music.
Small and Griot Music will put out more details shortly on
the Jamaica leg ofthe contest.

Meanwhile, under his impresario hat, Small is trying to continue
his "Art of Caribbean Music" live series, which has produced
several outstanding showcases over the past few months. "We're
trying to get [saxophonist] Dean Fraser and Luther Francois as the headliners but we're having difficulty tying Dean down to a date

Jaco's "Gospel"

Fresh out the mailbox is a copy of "Gospel for JFPIII:
A Tribute to Jaco Pastorius" courtesy of the folks at
Moonjune Records[moonjune.com] On first spin, it sounds
like a suitably adventurous tribute to the late great
bass maestro, including contributions from steel pan
virtuouso Othello Molineaux as well as Gil Goldstein
(an accordion take on "Punk Jazz") and Jaco's son,
Felix among many others. Check it out if you can

Lou Donaldson

Lou Donaldson
Originally uploaded by Misterjazz.

I'm trying to beef up the photo quotient of Jazzofonik and this is a particularly "beefy" shot of sax great Lou Donaldson, courtesy of misterjazz, a member of my Jazzhedz Group at Flickr

d'roofpic2

d'roofpic2
Originally uploaded by mike e.bop.

Drummer Jeremy Ashbourne of the jazz/pop group Wide Grin in action at D' Roof

The 1st Twelve months

Happy Birthday to us!
In July last year, we put up our first posts,
and here we are, one year, two hurricanes, and
many jazz performances and recordings later.
Again many thanks to all visitors, supporters
and jazz fans in general as we steam ahead

"Iron Lions" Now a Novel

On further reflection, the planned jazz biography
Iron Lions, will now take the form of a novella,
focuissing on a band of young jazz players in the
present context, but with references to the Jamaican
jazz giants of past and present.

Beginning next week, jazzofonik readers will see
the Prologue, plus excerpts of the first seven[7]
chapters, exclusively on this blog, in addition
to our regular posts. Looking forward to your
comments.

A "wet kiss" from Dennis

Not make fun of Cuba Cayman or the U.S. Gulf coast, but
it seems hurricanes "vacation" off the Jamaican coast,
pick up strength and move on. Not as dramaticaly as Ivan
last year, Dennis skirted the NE coast of Jamaica and at
alst update is now packing 150mph winds.

Fortunately no wind damage for us but buckets of rain
over the last two days. Still overcast right now and
nitlelife still mostly on hold

Have a great weekend

Max ill

More sad news from the US jazz front. Unconfirmed word is
that 82 -y.o. master drummer and bebop pioneer Max Roach
is suffering from some form of dementia and is now in
a managed care facility. This is a sad follow-up to
my previous post concerning saxophonist Michael
Brecker. Prayers to family and friends of Max Roach

An unwelcome "blowin' session"?

As the fringes of what is now Hurricane Dennis come ashore, nightlife is, naturally, on hold, including Jazzofonik Wednesdays at The Deck. A number of other shows and events have either been postponed or cancelled.
all being well, I'll have more on Friday

1000+.....and counting

Sometime yesterday, this blog logged its 1000th visitor.
- and with our first anniversary coming up to boot
Just would like to say a big thank you to
everyone who's checked out Jazzofonik over these
past 12 months - and greater thanks to those of
you who've commented and sent e-mails

By God's grace we'll continue to do our part
[however small]in keeping this music alive. Its been a great
trip so far and I pray you'll stay with me

Versonic @ Red Bones

The up 'n' coming combo Versonic Vibes
brings their multi-element hybrid to the
Red Bones Blues Cafe this Friday (Jul. 1)
Includes sax, bass, steel pan (excellent)
drums and violin (and any other instrument
that may occur to them to throw into the mix).
Deserving of wider recognition for sure

Correction to releases post

The previous post should have ericalexanderjazz.com
and not simply ericalexander.com as the webiste
reference for Eric Alexander. Apologies
for the error

Recommended releases

Terence Blanchard: Flow - Blue Note;
Eric Alexander: Dead Centre - High Note;
Randy Lippincott: Soul Monkey -GP Recordings

I've been playing the Blanchard disc several times
over - its great. The Alxander record was an impulse
pick-up after their smokin' live set to close the
Ocho Rios jazz festival - It took some time but the
record has definitely grown on me - A Few Miles From
Memphis and Sonrisa are my faves. Randy Lippincottt is
a bad-ass blues guitarist and (from my meeting with him
during Ocho Rios jazz) an all-round good human being. This
is a rocking good CD - Nightshade (an original), Stop Runnin'
Behind Me and Uhhh! are just a few of the highlights

for more info (in reverse order):
randylippincott.com;
jazzdepot.com/ericalexander.com;
bluenote.com/terenceblanchard.com

Pray for Michael brecker

Came across item in NY Times that stated that the great
tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker has been diagnosed
witha serious blood disorder. Our prayers for
complete healing go out to him and for strength
to his loved ones friends and colleagues

"THREE X FOUR" - Ocho Rios jazz review

Other band formats came and delivered good accounts of
themselves (this writer arrived after the reportedly good
performance by the Antelope Valley Big Band), but its arguable
that the final day of the 2005 Ocho Rios Jazz Festival belonged
to quartets.

The first such to greet us was the effervescent Kathy Brown group,
comprising Brown on keyboards and the now road-tested trio (with
Brown and other groups) of Dale Brown on electric bass, Denver Smith
on percussion and Deleon "Jubba" White on drums. One of the real gems
to have emerged in jazz over the last several years, Brown never gives
you the same tune twice and even her oft-performed numbers, like The
Flinstones theme, and Afro-Blue were presented on Sunday last with some
interesting, if minor variations. The group also played a Cuban compositon
entitled The Light that went over well with the audience.

After their departure, another large aggregation took the Almond Tree stage.
Billed as a tribute to ska, theirs was a meandering albeit energetic set
that saw, founder/leader Errol Lee also hailing Ocho Rios festival founder
Sonny Bradshaw and others associated with the event. Lee, aided and abetted
by festival sponsors bMobile, also encouraged some audience participation
to the lively ska numbers, as well as a hilarious sing-along in which the
contestant – clearly a foreigner - warbled his best Bob Marley, blissfully
out of tune and pace with the band.

The next foursome brought a change of pace to the festival, at a time
when organizers were beginning to "chase the sun" as it were (the garden
setting with its gazebo are not equipped for a nightime show). Black
Zebra saw the return of Brown on bass, along side Richie Cunningham on
the trap set. Up front were Mark Pritchett and Wayne McGregor, who did
a virtual quickstep through a part-tribute to Delta blues legend Muddy Waters
, including "The Blues Had A Baby" the salacious "You Shook Me" and I’ve Go to
be Goin Home". They threw in Gary U.S. Bonds’ "New Orleans" and closed in
customary fashion with Steve Winwood’s "Gimme Some Lovin’" the latter featuring
some heavier-than-usual pedal effect work by Pritchett especially.

The blues was just the right platform for the next guest, Philly storyteller
and guitarist Randy Lippincott, who brought his laid-back humour and fluid
acoustic guitar lines to the likes of Robert Johnson’s "Kind-hearted Woman"
The only lament in this case was that Lippincott’s band could not accompany
him to Jamaica. That would have enabled the audience to experience some of
the rollicking bar-burners on his excellent CD, Soul Monkey.

The "Philly Posse" extended their presence with the arrival of the sax-vocal
tandem of Byard Lancaster and Barbara Walker. The poignancy of the absence of
the festival’s founders and spearheads, was much in evidence as Walker dedicated
an intense reading of Simon & Garfunkel’s "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to
Myrna Hague. Walker, ably supported by Marjorie Whylie on piano also showed
characteristic gusto and tonal control on blues chestnuts like "I Ain’t
Doin’ Too Bad" (with a snatch of "Everyday I Have The Blues" thrown in),
her own "One Eyed Man" and, in a nod to her home state, ‘Georgia On My Mind"

But the afternoon’s best "four" by far came right at the end. It comprised
pianist David Hazeltine, upright bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Joe Farnsworth
in support of tenor man Eric Alexander( making a return visit to the event
from last year). They made their take-no-prisoners philosophy abundantly clear
(amid high heat and humidity) from the opening number "Nemesis" (an Alexander
original) and scarcely let up from that point onward, careening through Hazeltine’s composition "Blueslike" and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s " Triste" before effecting
a palpable shift of gear on the Gene Ammons ballad, "Didn’t We" but even this
piece took on a gentle shuffle with time. The final two numbers saw the band
again off to the races, several in the audience more than happy to be swept along.

One can’t say enough about he pleasure of taking in an experienced, hard-swinging
group of musicians who are well acquainted with each other and committed to the
task of making straight-ahead jazz come alive. Within the overall group dynamic,
the band members conducted intricate dialogues (bass-piano; piano-drum; drum-sax)
without ever forgetting the audience before them. Farnsworth in particular,
reeling off stunningly fast tempos, still brought refinement and control to
his drumming, making meaningful comments on all of the drums, but particularly
in one extended display of lightning-fast cymbal work.

With the sun loosening its grip on the venue, the 15th staging of the Ocho Rios
Jazz Festival came to an end. Sonny and Myrna are undoubtedly missed (the
fraternity continues to pray in respect of Myrna’s illness), but it
was demonstrated that even without them, the show must go on.

After the Storm....

After a busy weekend, things are somewhat calm on the
local jazz front. The 15th ocho Rios jazz festival
wrapped at its traditional venue, the Almond Tree
restaurant and garden, with blistering sets by the
Eric Alexander Quartet, Black Zebra and the "Philly
Posse" featuring Byard lancaster, barbara Walker and Randy Lippincott.
kathy Brown and her group also sparkled, as did returnee
Ginetta's Vendetta (at one ofthe Pegasus Jam Sessions).

those of you (Jamaicans) with dual currency credit card
and a taste for the blues should log on to randylippincott.com
and get a copy of his "Soul Monkey" a really satisfying stew
of roginals and standards with some sizzling group play.

also pick any of the albums from the Alexander quartet
(Alexander on tenor sax, David Hazeltine on piano, Nat
Reeves on upright bass and Joe Fransworth on drums. Each
have recorded extensively as both sidemen nad leaders so
your chocie may be difficult

Barbara Walker and Byard Lancaster also have excellent
recordings available.


That ends my "product pimp" post Jazz in the Gardens
renews at the Jamaica Pegasus this Sunday, Jun 26More on
that later

Links