Eddie Palmieri, RIP

A giant. 

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 107

No, of course not. These two hours of jamming at Emmet's place are far from perfect... but you really only need moments of perfection, no? And those are in abundance here, especially with Rudresh in the house. His composition "Chillin'," starting at about minute 49, brings out the best in Emmet and company. And his Carnatic intro to "In A Sentimental Mood" (c. 1:42) sounds so natural, you could almost believe that the Duke had Kadri Gopalnath in mind when he wrote it.

Piano women

Earthwise Productions is a labor of love run by local Palo Alto impresario Mark Weiss. Mr. Weiss has fantastic connections in the jazz and indie music world, but rather limited marketing skills. Or maybe there is not an audience for first-rate, sometimes edgy improvisers in sleepy, tech-y Palo Alto. 

Last Friday's show at the Mitchell Park Community Center was a case in point. An audience of– generously– 20 listened to two sets: Marta Sanchez on solo prepared piano, and the piano-clarinet duo of Myra Melford and Ben Goldberg.

Sanchez was performing a multi-day mini-residency with Earthwise, apparently preparing for a recording of the pieces she was performing. I knew of Sanchez as the pianist in David Murray's current quartet. Murray is the best jazz musician alive (sez me!), and he has very good taste in pianists (e.g., the late great Don Pullen), so I was definitely looking forward to Sanchez. Well, she is clearly talented, but the solo pieces came off a bit noodly, and the prepared piano was not really prepared enough: the hardware under the hood seemed mostly to have the effect of distorting the tuning of a few notes toward the middle of the keyboard, and adding some weak buzzes up top. I was not sure what the point of it was, really. 

Myra Melford I have heard many times, and she is simply one of the great jazz pianists of her generation. The set with Goldberg, who is an excellent player but a bit reserved for my tastes, was fine, but over-composed. Need I say that my favorite piece of the evening allowed Myra to stretch out, banging and whipping at the keyboard with the knuckled glissando that she learned, I believe, from none other than the aforementioned Don Pullen?

Keep up the good work, Mark; and all you Palo Altans, get your asses out to support live music!

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 102

From the inviting intro on tres, to the compulsively swinging percussion, to Ismael Quintana's vocals, to the awesome big-band horn arrangements, to the master's solo, channeling a little McCoy Tyner. 50 years old this year, and sounding better than the day it was born... Wow.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 101

Lately it seems like I've been listening to at least one Oscar Peterson YouTube every night. There's a surprising number of them out there. All of a sudden he is my favorite musician. Peterson knew his Bach, and you can hear it in this 1964 version of C Jam Blues, as he passes the counterpoint between left and right hands. But always rooted in the blues, and always swinging. Swinging is underappreciated. Supported by his classic trio-mates, Ed Thigpen and Ray Brown.

Chick Corea, RIP

I went through a brief love affair with jazz fusion in the 1970s. How could you not? Some of the most brilliant musicians of their time were the progenitors: Miles, of course, but also notably keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. After free jazz exhaustion we were ready for something a little more accessible, something that held out the hope that jazz could once again be a genre with mass appeal. Herbie's forays became foundational to hip-hop; Chick's were a little stranger and goofier... leprechauns, anyone? Ultimately fusion was pretty busted. But with Chick Corea, there is so much more. To me, the free jazz stuff sticks. Especially in the company of musicians like these... 

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 98

This rendition of the Kern-Hammerstein standard does go on for a bit, but in large part to accommodate Don Pullen's epic piano solo. His best ever? Well, find me a better one.

McCoy Tyner, RIP

His influence on modern jazz piano is on a par with Coltrane's on sax. Often imitated, seldom equalled.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 89

I've been listening to the Murray-Allen-Carrington Power Trio recording, Perfection, and the album title is not far off. Here's a studio recording of the title track, with a couple of guests. It's not my favorite track on the album– Craig Harris gets things off to a slow start– but it gives an idea of what they're up to. David Murray sounds like... David Murray... always first-rate, never phoning it in. Terri Lyne Carrington is a drummer to be reckoned with. Geri Allen (RIP) was more of a chameleon... she could do sophisticated or New Age-y, Ellington or Evans, and she could do fists, elbows, and glissandos. This was the dream trio for her talents– one more reason to lament her premature death at age 50.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 85

The album Glitter Wolf by Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom got a rave review on Fresh Air the other day, and I hope it helps her sell some albums and concert tickets. The music is stunningly good, and really fun. Miller's playing and composition bring out the best in Myra Melford, who is clearly having a ball. Her solo on this track, commencing around 3:30, exhibits many of the traits that make her my favorite pianist: elaborate modal runs, thundering Tyner-like chords, Taylor-esque motifs, and her own special sauce. Actually, Miller seems to bring out the best in everyone, including Jenny Scheinman and Ben Goldberg, two musicians I admire but don't always enjoy. Highly recommended.

Henry Threadgill

The Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga hosted the Threadgill-Iyer-Prieto Trio Tuesday night. This is pretty wild and wooly music for such a classy venue in a tony suburb, but the house was nearly full, and the audience was appreciative. Threadgill was one of the leaders of free jazz's turn toward more structured composition in the 1970s and remains a major figure. On alto sax he shares some of Ornette Coleman's simplicity and directness, but as a composer he brings a lot more complexity.

The evening's performance was broken primarily into two extended pieces (or suites), each played almost entirely without any breaks. The sonic landscape shifted between quiet, space-filled passages and rollicking percussive grooves, all with Threadill's distinctively quirky harmonies and modulations.

The rest of the Trio consists of two 40-something masters– Vijay Iyer on piano and Dafnis Prieto on drums. I'd heard Prieto in person before and found his formidable playing a little too drums-forward. Although there were also plenty of percussive fireworks Tuesday, Threadgill's penchant for quiet spaces is apparently a good influence on Prieto, who painted gentle textures with mallets and brushes. These were among the best moments of the night, along with some high-energy sequences in which Iyer blocked out peculiar rapid-fire chord sequences and filigrees, Prieto grinned at him over his cymbals as he kept the time in several meters, and Threadgill drifted along between them in his own sonic universe, breathing extended earthy tones on bass flute.

Cecil Taylor, RIP

A giant, right up there with Coltrane and Coleman in leading the jazz avant-garde. I never heard him in person, but my jazz-loving father did once years ago, in Hartford. He was unfamiliar with the musician, but drove in with Mom, probably because it was part of the Hartford Jazz Festival. The solo performance was in a crowded church, and my parents had to sit up near the front. There was no escape, as this fellow assaulted a defenseless piano during a single piece that went on for a couple hours of aural agony... or at least that's how Dad recounted it. "Cecil something?" "You heard Cecil Taylor, Dad?!" Still fresh.

Still Crazy After All These Years

Recognizable upon the first note or two for that classic Fender Rhodes sound, played in this case by Barry Beckett, one of the Muscle Shoals Swampers. The instrument has its own interesting story...

Like a piano, it generates sound using keys and hammers, but instead of strings, the hammers strike thin metal tines, which are then amplified via an electromagnetic pickup which is plugged into an external keyboard amplifier and speaker. 

The instrument evolved from Rhodes' attempt to manufacture pianos to teach recovering soldiers during World War II under a strict budget, and development continued throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 79

Charles Mingus's two Changes albums are among my very favorite recordings. There are versions of this song on each of the albums, but the instrumental on Vol. 1 (this one) is the winner. My favorite pianist, Don Pullen, takes a piano solo that is uncharacteristically lovely and lyrical; George Adams kills it on tenor, and the bassist... well... he's Mingus.

Geri Allen, RIP

She was one of my favorite pianists, a trio specialist with a wide-ranging musical mind. At 60 it seems she was just getting started.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 71

This is one of my treasured vinyl possessions. The cover is so cool, and McCoy is so cool. His dense, modal sound instantly recognizable. Think "A Love Supreme," but more rocking, and more accessible. Azar Lawrence cooking on sax. Guilherme Franco cooking on cuíca.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 70

I'm a bit ashamed to say I didn't know this album. The most amazing piano trio ever assembled? Ellington sounds like Monk or Herbie Nichols. Which is really to say that Monk and Herbie Nichols sounded more like the Duke than I had known. Rhythm section of Mingus and Roach... who cares if they didn't get along?

Moonlight

I own an Android phone, but I use it mostly for texts, emails, and reading the Times, so I can't say I would ever think of it in the same way I would think of, say, a Beethoven piano sonata. Regardless, this commercial is very cool. It's not just that they bothered to rebuild a piano with all the strings tuned to middle C, which is nifty. It's also that the rhythmic drive of Beethoven's masterpiece is compelling and exciting even when played in monotone. Of course your mind's ear is filling in the arpeggios...

Joanne Brackeen

An under-appreciated master.

Geri Allen

The best jazz pianist working today?