Download Art Blakey’s Jazz Message (Part 1)

Art Blakey

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T23DTUNL

Warning: The levels are a bit off between the music and the mic. Volume adjustment is required. Hopefully, I will get a better quality rip of the program up soon.

The 10th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival Is Upon Us!

The Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium presents their 10th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival next month with headlining performances by Roy Haynes, Lou Donaldson, Melba Joyce, and Randy Weston. There will also be a host of smaller shows with local talent. For more information, and to see the calendar of events, visit the CBJC website:

http://www.centralbrooklynjazzconsortium.org/new_pages/April%20CBJC%20Calendar.html

A lot of the shows, including some of the big ones are either free or under $20 and take place at such hip venues as The Sugar Hill Supper Club and Jazz 966.

Celebrating Art Blakey’s Jazz Message (Part One)

“Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.” – Art Blakey

The next two episodes of Bop and Beyond will be dedicated to the music of one man: Art Blakey– both as a leader with the Jazz Messengers and as a sideman.

Join me this Friday, 03/27/09, at 6pm as Bop and Beyond spins the music of Art Blakey in anticipation of the New School’s Art Blakey Tribute show at Sweet Rhythm on Monday, 03/30/09. Among the albums we will be enjoying…

In 1958, Art Blakey and his band rolled into Paris for a memorable run at the Club St. Germain. Playing to a packed house of raucous American ex-pats, including Hazel Scott to whom “Moanin” is dedicated, the band gets down like never before. This is the only official live recording of the seminal “Moanin” band of Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt that I have found and it is a scorcher.

A transitional band whose lone album together packs a mean punch thanks to the addition of Dizzy Reece on the congas. The extra rhythm really lets the band stretch out with Art and Dizzy continually pushing each other into a whirlwind percussion dynamo. This album also marks the entry of Wayne Shorter into the group and he contributes his first of many classic tunes to the Messenger songbook, the lovely “Lester Left Town.”

All this plus music from the Messengers lone album for Columbia Records and some wonderful Monk with Blakey, Hawkins, and Coltrane.

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(Please note that a download of this program will be available within a week of its initial broadcast date.)

An interview with Joseph Perez about The New School’s Tribute to Art Blakey

I had the good fortune of corresponding via e-mail with Joseph Perez, director of the New School Jazz Program’s Tribute to Art Blakey at Sweet Rhythm on Monday, 3/30/09.

Tell me how this Art Blakey tribute came together — how did you become involved in it?

–  First off, it’s great to be doing this interview on your blog. Thank you. As for the show, I guess it’s important to make the distinction up-front that this isn’t so much an “Art Blakey Tribute” as much as it is dedicated both to Blakey and to Mr. Charles Tolliver, a former Jazz Messenger, and his work at the New School where he teaches. Mr. Tolliver has run the Jazz Orchestra and also, until recently, an Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers ensemble class where he taught the music as performed by that group, using note-for-note transcriptions he has done himself over the years.

A student, Chelsea Baratz (who will be performing with us on Monday), started a Facebook group breaking the news that the school was not offering the class this semester (spring) and basically demanding it back. It started quite an uproar on-line with many people joining and chiming in with their thoughts on why this music was too important to take out of the curriculum. Many well-known artists such as Nicholas Payton and Greg Osby were writing, voicing support. For my part, my interest grew when some of the opinions stopped being about the class and Mr. Tolliver and about the school as a whole. Like many instances of public outrage, it seemed to go from well-intentioned and reasoned to a “this is my chance to get everything that’s bothering me off my chest”-vibe.

It was at that point I contacted the school’s administration myself. To their credit, they were very open about the situation. In fact, I would go so far as to say they were somewhat shocked by the response and unsure as how to respond as they felt it was a delicate, and ultimately private, matter. Perhaps they were open with me because I was a long time student there (I had a couple of brief pauses in my education ) and was both a member of the Blakey class and a private student of Mr. Tolliver.

When I proposed an idea for an event to somehow bridge this divide they were amenable to it. I then contacted Mr. Tolliver with the idea, as in my eyes this night is largely about his work with this particular class. He was very supportive and to the point of wanting to be part of it himself, but he has since been booked in Europe and can’t be with us. The musicians I contacted to perform were almost unanimously available, to my shock, so once the ball started to roll I just went with it.

Why did the New School cancel its Art Blakey course?

– Again, to their credit, the school was quite open about the situation, and though it’s really not my place to divulge too much info, I can say safely that the Art Blakey course was just one of many that weren’t offered and that it was largely a financial decision based on projected enrollments and funds. Sad to say it, but the state of the current economy is very much a part of every decision being made in the industry right now. However, I should also note that the school has every intention of offering it once again in the Fall and Mr. Tolliver has expressed to me with some certainty that it will return. Luckily, this just seems like a temporary situation.

Who else will be performing at the tribute?

– So you’re not confused by all the people taking part, it is going to be a night of rotating bands, just like Charles used to run the class concerts. Different personnel on different tunes. Trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, who is a former Messenger himself in the band prior to Wynton’s arrival, will be with us. Marcus and EJ Strickland, perhaps two of the top young artists in jazz and two former students in the class will be on hand. In fact, I believe Marcus is coming to the gig straight after getting off a plane from Europe. Jason Marshall, the great young bari player and Monk competition finalist, will be with us. As I mentioned, the student who started the buzz on-line, a tenor player by the name of Chelsea Baratz, will be with us. Stafford Hunter, one of NYC’s most ubiquitous trombonists and some-time member of Charles Tolliver’s jazz orchestra will be with us. And many more…drummer Carmen Intorre (who works with Joey DeFrancesco), trumpeters Keyon Harrold and Tatum Greenblatt… not to mention the current students who are taking part.

What does Art Blakey’s music mean to you personally?

– Wow, I know I can be long-winded so I’ll try to keep it short. Art Blakey’s music, especially the era from 1957 to 1964, is really the epitome of jazz to me. It has the perfect balance of musical sophistication and populism that only the very elite in the music have ever achieved. It’s not surprising to me that his records continue to sell and be coveted by fans and musicians. In some ways, I almost feel that because the band had the name “The Jazz Messengers” it somehow detracted from the credit Blakey gets as a band-leader, but speak to any alumni of the band and their story is almost always the same, Blakey was a band-leader that inspired and taught the younger players. Add to that his keen ear for repertoire and musical directors, be it Benny Golson or Wayne Shorter or James Williams, and you have a band whose music will probably last much longer than most. It’s that balance. You can’t want to be a jazz musician and avoid his music, nor will you find a jazz fan who doesn’t love “Moanin’”. It’s a magical combination. I was a fan from the beginning and I would say his music has informed my own more than anyone else.

You also have a show coming up at the Iridium, can you spare some details?

– I would love to. Valery Ponomarev has his own big band and I’ve had the privilege to be a part of the band for the last couple of years. The entire repertoire consists mainly of his originals and music played by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Whenever we play the Iridium we do a show called “Our Father Who Art Blakey”, nothing but classic Messengers tunes. The band is great and includes Todd Bashore on lead alto, the great young pianist Miki Hiyama, and perhaps the best under-30 drummer in the world right now, Jerome Jennings, who seems to be playing with everyone right now. The show is Tuesday, April 14th.

Upcoming Event: The New School Tribute to Art Blakey @ Sweet Rhythm, NYC

More information is available here:

http://www.newschool.edu/jazz/events.aspx?id=28881