Music
Undead
Another NYC mega jazz fest to pair with Winter Jazz Fest. This one in June. Details here.
Wayne Shorter in Philly
Oh, I do wish I could go. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has commissioned Shorter and the quartet to premiere a new work inspired by the museum’s Asian art collection. Details on the flyer below. Click to enlarge or go here for a clearer image.
On Bill Mays
In the new Philadelphia Weekly: Bill MaysSat., Apr. 24, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com Bill Mays was once a Hollywood session hand, but he rose to become a fine jazz piano modernist, paying dues with the likes of Bud Shank and Shelly Manne and recently succeeding Bill Charlap in the eminent Phil Woods
The week on disc (70)
In case you missed the last one… Samuel Blaser, Solo Bone (SLAM, 2009) Adam Rudolph & Ralph Jones, Yèyí: A Wordless Psalm of Prototypical Vibrations (Meta) John Blake, Jr. Quartet, Motherless Child (ARC) Earl MacDonald, Re:Visions: Works for Jazz Orchestra (Death Defying) Harris Simon, The Mastery of Passion (Resonance) Nick Hempton Band (ind.)
On a lighter note
Via Huffington Post, via @coolmcjazz:
A great honor
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been nominated for this year’s Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award for Review and Feature Writing, given annually by the Jazz Journalists Association. My fellow nominees are Nate Chinen, Gary Giddins, Marc Myers, Doug Ramsey and Ben Ratliff. Full list of Jazz Awards semi-finalists, and details on the June 14 event, here.
On Alex Sipiagin
As I’ve mentioned, I just completed liner notes for Generations, Alex Sipiagin’s forthcoming quartet release on Criss Cross. It’s a tribute to Woody Shaw that, among other things, challenges the idea that tribute albums are necessarily safe and backward-looking things. But don’t take it from me — hear the music when it’s out, and check out the original Shaw source
Philadelphia haps, cont’d.
In the new Philadelphia Weekly: Jean-Michel Pilc Sat., Apr. 17, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com Forget the piano — Jean-Michel Pilc can whistle a better bebop solo than many players could hope to execute on their horns. At the keyboard Pilc can be frightening, a master of the trio idiom who’ll turn an