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January 2003
Distinguished duo performs Feb. 8 Lincoln jazz fans had
their first opportunity to bask in the warmth of Cameron
Brown's bass when he appeared with pianist George Cables
and drummer Victor Lewis at last summer's memorable
Jazz in June performance. Brown returns to Lincoln
Feb. 8, this time to perform a duo concert with legendary
jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan. It's a 7:30 p.m. show
at Westbrook Music Hall, 11th and R streets on the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln city campus. The singer had a long
relationship in a similar duo setting with bassist
Harvie S. Brown reconstructed Jordan's bass-voice history
in a recent phone interview. "The first time she did
the bass and voice was with (Charles) Mingus," Brown
said. "Later, she worked a lot with Steve Swallow, before
he switched over to only play electric bass. She was
working with a band with (pianist) Steve Kuhn, Harvie
and (drummer) Bob Moses, and the duo kind of evolved
out of that." The Jordan-Harvie S duo
was to last more than 17 years, suggesting compatibility
between the human voice and the deeper tones of the
stringed instrument. Brown has his own idea of what
makes the marriage work so well. "To me, there's always
been something special about the power of the human
voice," he said. "There's something about the transparency
of the sound. Obviously, the two instruments don't come
into each other's ranges at all, so you have this very
transparent thing of the two-part harmony of the melody
and the bass line. It's also a lot what Sheila brings
to it, and the little arrangements that she works out,
and the medleys. It's a very intimate ensemble. Sometimes,
we're playing and I'll look up and realize that
she's so close to me. It's almost like she crawls
into the bass sometimes." Brown's personal rapport
with Jordan is another, more obvious factor in the
duo's success. The two met in 1974 and have performed
together in other group settings, but the recent merger
as a duo is especially exciting for Brown. "For me personally, on
a lot of different levels, it's a huge thrill," he
said. "The thing about Sheila is that she goes
back to a very personal relationship with Charlie
Parker, as well as a profound musical relationship with Charlie Parker. Playing
with Dannie (Richmond), I got to sort of have a bridge
to Mingus. Playing with Sheila, I feel like a have a
more authentic bridge to Bird. It's so exciting.
She has absorbed so much of his tradition. A lot of
the tunes that she sings are songs that Bird
played. We do 'If I Should Lose You,' for example,
which is a song that Bird played. Your have the lyric
and the meaning of the song, but you also have the scatting
and the thing that Bird brought to that music, improvisationally." Jordan's singing style
is unique and more closely related to the phrasing
of horns than it is to more conventional crooners. "She feels like she was
more influenced by horn players, in terms of the way
she phrases," he explained. "Even though she's absolutely
singing the song and delivering the lyric and thinking
about the lyric, the way she does it is coming more
from the way horn players played, rather than the way
other singers might have done it." Brown and Jordan have
released "I've Grown Accustomed to the Bass" (reviewed
in the Summer-Fall 2002 issue) and are working up tunes
for a second recording. They also are preparing for
a two-week European tour. Born in December 1945,
Brown began his career in the mid-1960s, recording
with trumpeter Don Cherry and composer, arranger and
music theorist George Russell, creator of the Lydian
mode. Over the course of the next three decades, Brown
worked with a wide range of jazz musicians in many different
styles, including trombonist Roswell Rudd, saxophonist
Archie Shepp and drummers Beaver Harris, Art Blakey, Philly
Joe Jones, Ed Blackwell, Idris Muhammad and Joe
Chambers. "The critics have a tendency
to pigeonhole styles and compartmentalize the music
too much," Brown said in a recent phone interview. "I
really hear the music as one whole cloth. It feels,
to me, very organic to play all those different styles.
My early influences, interestingly enough, were the so-called
avant garde. I got a chance to be around Don Cherry quite
a bit when I was 19 years old, which was very
inspiring. He was such a charismatic guy. He just
lived and breathed music." Of course, growing up
in Motor City had a big impact on him, as well. "When I was a kid in
Detroit, I got to hear Miles and Blakey and Coltrane come
through, and they'd play a whole week in Detroit. I worshipped
at the altar of (bassist) Paul Chambers. My dad loved Dixieland,
so I listened to Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Sidney
Bechet." Brown also performed
or recorded with trumpeters Donald Byrd, Chet Baker, Ted
Curson and Terumasa Hino, saxophonists Booker Ervin, Lee
Konitz, Jane Ira Bloom and Dewey Redman, vocalist Betty
Carter, and the John Hicks Trio. But it was at the mere
mention of his 8 -year tenure with the Don Pullen/George
Adams Quartet featuring pianist Pullen, saxophonist
Adams and drummer Dannie Richmond that Brown was quick
to acknowledge that association as a career high point. "This was the band of
my life. To get to stand next to Dannie Richmond for
8- years and just absorb the depth and breadth of his
musicality was just incredible." The quartet continued
until Richmond's death in March 1988. A sporadic composer,
Brown wrote "Lullaby for George, Don and Dannie" and
"For Dad and Dannie," dedicated to Richmond and Brown's
father, who also died in 1988. In addition to his collaborations
with vocalist Sheila Jordan, Brown in recent years
has worked with saxophonist Joe Lovano, Lou Donaldson
and Houston Person, singer Etta Jones and pianists George
Cables and Marc Copland, as well as his own ensemble,
Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now. He has appeared on
more than 80 recordings. "I've Grown Accustomed
to the Bass," the Feb. 8 performance by Sheila Jordan
and Cameron Brown, is a collaboration of the BMF, Aging
Services PEAK and the Seniors Foundation. Tickets are
$15 for the general public and $10 if you're age 60 or
older. Call (402) 441-7158 to reserve seats. By
Butch Berman Music is a healing tool.
Either on the playing end or the listening... the power
of this age-old medium is endless. Now the stepfather-to-be
of a strapping 19-year-old boy-man named Bahji Gandu,
I recently witnessed this theory take wings. Angel wings,
no less, belonging to a piano teacher named Julie
Felzien, who my massage therapist Kassi Riordan
referred me to. Bahji, you see, was born
autistic and requires much controlled, supervised stimulation.
Little did I know when I purchased a piano for my fiancee
Grace Gandu's household from Gourlay Brothers that
it would have such a definitive impact. Now... let me back up
a long way, to my early 20s. I met a sagelike gentleman
named Daniel McCurdy who turned me on to his (at the
time) far-out concept of how music affects us, in much
more depth than I'd ever imagined before. He felt that
each note not only had a distinctive tone and sound vibration,
but that to each tone a color is generated that affects
us internally. Consequently, certain chords could
be constructed to alter the mood of whomever the
sound waves envelope. The ability to render relaxation
to sleep, or excitation to anger could be utilized
as an educational and/or therapeutic massage. Therefore,
music could more naturally and more gently replace medication
or controlled substances that would produce the same
effects. Given this background,
Julie is starting to develop a program to enable Bahji
to use the piano as a positive tool to help balance
his neurological challenges. Music is transformed into
almost a mantra to help calm and smooth him out. In the future, we will
continue to chronicle this fascinating saga of Bahji's
development and share them with you, our concerned readers
interested in mental health issues. Grace and I set out upon
our third sojourn to my adored "second home," K.C.,
and had the usual royal blast. My main focus on this
occasion was twofold. After checking into our lovely
suite at the Heritage House at Sixth and Central (I
highly recommend this fab, cozy, but spacious New York
loft-style accommodation, with free breakfast and lots
of amenities, including off-street parking and oh, so
close to all the chosen venues) we prepared ourselves
for another excellent dining experience at the Majestic
on Broadway. This time, we planned
a dinner party with as many of our K.C. associates
as were available. Included, besides Grace and myself,
were sax great Ahmad Alaadeen and his wife and manager,
Fannie, and former co-organizers of the defunct but
forever memorable K.C. International Jazz Festival
John Jessup, radio and stage personality (and date, Kathy)
and Steve Irwin of the Marillac Foundation and his wife,
Jo Boehr (a fine singer in her own right), dear
friends all. We had planned to meet,
eat and dig the sounds of one of my faves, drummer
Tommy Ruskin, and his talented wife, songstress Julie
Turner. Turns out Tommy had another engagement, so
Julie, along with her guitarist son Brian and pianist-vocalist
Mike Ning entertained and joined us for awhile. Ning, one of the nicest
guys I've ever met in the biz, gave me two CDs-one
I've heard and the other still on deck. I think you'll
enjoy "I Remember Mr. Evans," a tribute by Mike and
his partner, Sherry Jones. In fact, when in K.C. stop
by the Music Exchange in Westport and check out their
amazing local CD selection. If you read 'bout it here
and they got it there, just flat get it! After leaving the Majestic,
most of us, including late arrival bassist Gerald Spaits,
adjourned to the Heritage House to discuss jazz and
future potential collaborations into the wee, wee hours.
In all, a grand evening of delicious food and drink,
the usual top-notch K.C. sounds and the best friends
and fans of jazz you could ask for. The next evening, as
expected, was just a gas. This was the CD-release party
of the Westport Art Ensemble, with funding from the Berman
Music Foundation. They performed in a theater-like atmosphere,
with great stage, lights and sound housed beneath the Westport
Coffeehouse in the heart of K.C.ís famed
night-life hot spot on Pennsylvania Avenue. A huge crowd of pals,
families, jazz lovers and the curious just hanging
provided the perfect foil for the terrific music awaiting
them. The band was in high
gear that night, with everyone blasting on all cylinders.
Bassist Gerald Spaits, saxophonist Josh Sclar, guitarist
Jake Blanton, drummer Ian Sakura and keyboardist Roger
Wilder make up the wae. There were lots of pix snapped,
tons of CDs sold and a shitload of new and old fans to
remember this evening for years to come. Since then, only Gerald,
Roger and Ian (who replaced the legendary Todd Strait,
now residing in the Northwest) remain in K.C. as, like
birds leaving the nest, Jack and Josh headed off to live
'n' learn more about it all in N.Y.C. Still, a band that
caused such a stir in their jazzy community and whose
CD was received favorably nationally, will at least regroup
periodically to continue recording and sharing
their creativity and evolution. Stay tuned for K.C. trip
No. 4 and our first totally online newsletter, coming
to you this spring. By Tom Ineck The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra
continues a strong season lineup with returning favorites
and new guests appearing in January, March and May. Young Kansas City pianist
Eldar Djangirov, whose stunning performance last year
with the NJO was sponsored by the Berman Music Foundation,
returns Jan. 22 in a program entitled "Learning from
a Young Master." Aptly, he is billed along with this
year's Young Lions All-Star Band, a hand-picked ensemble
of some of the best high school jazz players in the
area. On March 25, saxophone
great Don Menza fronts the NJO again, this time accompanied
by another outstanding tenor player, Pete Christlieb,
in a program showcasing these two "Tenor Titans." Tony Gulizia, a longtime
favorite in his hometown of Omaha and throughout the
Midwest, is the special guest soloist May 6. A wonderful
keyboard player and an equally talented crooner who
now resides in Colorado, Gulizia will help the NJO present
a program "Remembering Sinatra and Basie." Also
scheduled is a guest appearance by the winner of
this year's NJO Young Jazz Artist Competition. By Butch Berman Charlie Burton and I
go back a long way. Sometimes bickering like feuding brothers
and other times like... brothers. Two Jew boys with
a fierce reverence for the roots music that we have played
together and separately for more than half our lives.
Charlie, a top composer and exciting performer, and myself,
a guitarist/arranger, enjoy the sum of the parts of
our craft. These days, I'm not a
regular with Charlie Burton's band, but after years
with The Megatones and Charlie Burton and Rock Therapy,
etc., its still a gas even being the second-call guitar
guy. This evening last October at the Zoo bar was special,
with a rare collection of Lincoln's "old timers" backing
Charlie and calling themselves Snakehead Fish. Dig
this-fiddlin' with Dr. Dave Fowler, stell guitarist
Seve "Fuzzy" Blazek, Cutouts and Shithook rhythm
section with the Daves--bassist Boye and drummer
Robel--moi on guitar and, of course, Charlie. What a
night! What a band! What a blast! |
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