JVC Jazz and beyond

Staying on top of New York’s jazz scene is a challenging task all year round. When the JVC Jazz Festival and the Vision Festival are happening at the same time, it’s just about impossible. The JVC festival, which lasts a week longer than the Vision, is of course better-funded, more visible and more mainstream, but it has its adventurous side. A case in point: Ornette Coleman played Carnegie Hall again this year, but he threw the crowd a big and unannounced curve. Having two upright bass players wasn’t unconventional enough for the 76-year-old alto saxist and free-jazz innovator. So this year he added Al MacDowell, formerly of Prime Time, on electric bass. Count them, three bassists: MacDowell, Tony Falanga and Greg Cohen, in addition to Ornette and his son Denardo Coleman on drums.

The music was heavenly, although some friends complained about the acoustics. True, they weren’t perfect, but Ornette conveyed his intentions with the consummate authority one would expect. MacDowell’s bass functioned both melodically and harmonically—he played obbligatos behind the horn, doubled a few melodies and also added two- and three-note chords to the mix, suggesting the kind of watercolor harmony one hears in Bill Frisell’s music. Ornette switched whimsically to trumpet and violin a number of times; on alto he roamed the universe, but somehow never far from the blues. “Turnaround,” one of his oldest tunes, was a particular treat. So was “Song X.”

This coming week is a special one for the JVC festival: pianist Brad Mehldau and guitarist Ralph Towner are each giving solo recitals at Zankel Hall; Charles Lloyd will play the same room with his Sangam trio, featuring tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and drummer Eric Harland. I’ll post a link to my Towner review when it’s up at JazzTimes.com.

It’s easy to forget that regular a-la-carte club life in New York continues unabated during festival season. In the past week I made sure to catch Guillermo Klein’s Los Guachos at the Village Vanguard—my review will appear in the July issue of All About Jazz-New York. Also, drummer Dafnis Prieto celebrated the release of his Absolute Quintet CD at the Jazz Gallery. It’s profound, muscular stuff with cello, violin, keyboards, sax and drums, but coming right after the Ornette show, it felt a bit overamplified.