Jazz impresario George Wein has entered the blogging world to share his thoughts on music. We’ll be updating this page with his postings, so check back often to read the latest.
George Wein Takes a Timeless Voyage through the Mystique & Romance of Jazz
CareFusion Jazz Festival New York | June 17 – 26, 2010
It was the spring of 2002. Using our sophisticated interoffice communications system, someone yelled: “Danny Meyer is on the phone for you.” Danny Meyer! The restaurant guru – numero uno. What did he want? Was he inviting me to a special banquet? (I hoped.)
“George, I’m going to open a jazz club. Can you give me some advice?” I think he called the wrong guy. Boston, 1950-1960, George Wein’s Storyville. “The Birthplace of Jazz”. Ten years of the finest music jazz had to offer: Duke, Louis, Ella, Miles, Dizzy. Everybody existed. We had fun, but it closed without a dime in my pocket.
In 2001, I had a disastrous experience with a club on Bourbon Street. New Orleans is not New York City where a $20 – $30 cover charge is commonplace. Not New Orleans $5 – $10 music charge is scale for jazz (Preservation Hall, Snug Harbor, etc.) In the Crescent City, tourists and locals spend money on food. Music is like the air we breathe, free and in the street ambiance. My associate, Ralph Brennan from the famous New Orleans restaurant family, ran the room. My advice as an investor was” Have a restaurant with music, not a jazz club that happens to serve food.” Unfortunately, circumstances made this impossible and the New Orleans club folded in less than a year.
I was proud to have “the” Danny Meyer ask me for advice. “Danny, if you want to have a success, make sure you have a restaurant with music, not a jazz club with food.” This echoed my advice to my friends in New Orleans.
But Danny Meyer is a smart guy, smarter than most people I know, including me. He birthed both. A restaurant on street level (Blue Smoke) and in a cellar below, The Jazz Standard, a jazz room serving food from the upstairs kitchen.
But did Danny spawn a place specializing in the international cuisine he is noted for in The Union Square Café and The Gramercy Tavern et. al? No! He opened a rib joint. Barbecue! Success was instant and now the Jazz Standard has taken its place along with the Vanguard, The Blue Note, Iridium, Dizzy’s at JALC, along with others that are the foundations of jazz in NYC, the jazz capital of the world.
In January, Seth Abramson, musical director of the Jazz Standard, invited me to the club. We had been working on a program for the CareFusion Jazz Festival and had settled on five evenings:
- June 22 Francisco Mela’s Cuban Safari
- June 23 Chris Potter
- June 24 Jason Moran w. Mary Halvorson and Ron Miles
- June 24 Ambrose Akinmusire
- June 26 Anat Cohen Quartet
On this particular January night, there was a singer appearing who he wanted me to hear. So Andrzej drove me down to East 27th Street (west of Lexington Ave), which seemed to have considerable more activity than Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn when I went to Zebulon.
As I entered the building, the smell of Kansas City hit me right in the nostrils. I couldn’t wait to get downstairs so I could choose what ribs I could chew on for dinner. The solid banisters in the stairway made my descent to the club uneventful. As I was being seated by the friendly crew, the lights dimmed before I could decide whether I wanted the Kansas City ribs, the Memphis Baby Backs or the Texas salt and pepper beef ribs (smoky flavor).
Because Gretchen Parlato had already been introduced, I made it easy for the waitress: I ordered fried chicken.
Gretchen Parlato, a slim, quite beautiful young lady, sings most of her songs in Portuguese. It wasn’t long before her performance captured the audience. Gretchen was accompanied by a marvelous pianist, Gerald Clayton (the Clayton family’s future in jazz). I was sitting with Tim Jackson, producer of the Monterey Jazz Festival. His son Bennett is earning extra curricular credit working for the CareFusion Festival while getting a degree in recorded popular music at NYU. (I took pre-med in college. In my day, there were no majors in jazz or popular music. If there had been, I might have been an all “A” student, instead of being blitzed by chemistry, physics, biology and organic chemistry.). Both Tim and I liked Gretchen Parlato. (I think he has asked her to appear in Monterey this year.) I asked Gretchen to perform in June on the CareFusion Jazz Festival in New York at Symphony Space.
Symphony Space has become a bastion of culture on the upper West Side. In addition to dance, literature and classical music, Laura Kaminsky, who is the associate artistic director, likes to present jazz. There are two concert halls at Symphony Space: The Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (700 seats) and the Leonard Nimoy Thalia (200 seats). Both are comfortable and the acoustics are perfect. I have produced several concerts over the years at Symphony Space which have had varying degrees of success. I feel there is a territorial void for jazz on the Upper West Side. Jazz in Manhattan starts in the Village and Soho and more or less peters out after Columbus Circle (JALC). Not until Harlem above 110th Street do you find much music.
Symphony Space at West 95th Street and Broadway is a good location. The subway (96th St.) and busses drop you right at the door. One of the problems Symphony Space has is due to the divisionary demographics of Manhattan; its basic clientele is above middle age. (The same situation exists at the 92nd Street Y on Lexington Avenue. Every time I speak or play uptown, when I look at the faces in the audience I feel like a kid. I’m 84 years old.
Laura Kaminsky had an idea for a program at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia. She had the opportunity to present two artists who have been on the jazz scene for quite awhile, Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton, two wonderful performers (June 24). But Laura asked us if we had some new faces that were available to indicate how jazz singing is still a vital part of the music scene. Just a few weeks earlier Seth Abramson had introduced Kat Edmondson to me at a dinner at the Cuban restaurant Guantanamera (8th Ave @ 55th St) where the food was good and the music on a postage stamp stage was fantastic. Kat is young and pretty. She gave me a CD (they all do). I was impressed by what I heard, so I suggested to Laura a concert with Gretchen Parlato and Kat Edmondson (June 25), so those lucky enough to attend both evenings will have a clear view of several styles of jazz singing, what is happening now and where it has been for many years.
I have always used the expression ”Jazz is a music from J to Z”. I have felt this from almost the beginning of my career. At Storyville I had Art Tatum play with Sidney Bechet and at a Sunday afternoon jam session I asked Charlie Parker to play with my group, which featured Doc Cheatham and Vic Dickenson. Bird blew us away on Royal Garden Blues.
The first night of the Newport Jazz Festival, 1954, along with Dizzy, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa among others, I programmed Eddie Condon, with Bobby Hackett, Pee Wee Russell, etc. to appear on stage before Lennie Tristano with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. So I asked Laura Kaminsky to work with the Sidney Bechet Society in presenting an evening in New Orleans (June 23) featuring Evan Christopher, John Allred, Ari Roland and Eli Yamin. Evan ranks with Anat Cohen and Ken Peplowski as my idea of a clarinet triumvirate.
But these three concerts were in the Thalia and we wanted something for the 700 seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Selling 700 seats to a jazz concert is not easy. Laura and I enlisted the help of Rio Sakairi, another partner with me on the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York and the musical director of The Jazz Gallery. (More on The Jazz Gallery in my next blog.)
Rio and Laura came up with the idea of the Jazz Gallery All-Stars. I jumped. So, quickly Rio contacted artists who had been given exposure and introduction at the Jazz Gallery, which is a non-profit presenting organization in an 80-seat attic on Hudson Street near the Holland Tunnel. Artists who have agreed to be part of this stunning group include: Claudia Acuña, Ambrose Akinmusire, Lage Lund, Gerald Clayton, Ben Williams, Pedro Martinez and Roy Hargrove. The concert should sell out, particularly since Symphony Space has agreed to a ticket price of $15.
I saw Roy Hargrove a few weeks ago at the Blue Note. He was a guest performer with Roy Haynes, who was celebrating his 85th birthday week with a host of different guests, including Bill Cosby, Chick Corea, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride. The evening I chose to congratulate my Boston buddy, who was the house drummer at Storyville back in the long ago 1950’s, Hargrove was featured.
The Blue Note was packed. The room was darkened and pin spots lit the stage. Jaleel Shaw and Roy Hargrove, supported by Roy Haynes, who in my mind is the best of extant drummers, were playing beautifully. About the third number, they slipped into a minor key blues, at a silky medium tempo. It was gentle swing at its best as only drummer Haynes could inspire.
As Jaleel poured his heart into his soprano sax, my thoughts began to wander and when Roy Hargrove worked his way into several muted trumpet choruses, I was transported. It’s difficult to describe my mood, but Roy and Jaleel became symbolic figures – two anonymous African-Americans, expressing joy, love, and at the opposite end, life’s frustrations, through their horns. I was no longer at the Blue Note with Jaleel and Roy Hargrove, I could have been in Paris on the Rue de la Huchette, in a jazz cave with Bill Coleman and Sidney Bechet, maybe I thought of Frankie Newton and Pete Brown in a crowded Greenwich Village café. I certainly felt Roy Eldridge and Coleman Hawkins in the Three Deuces on 52nd St. It also could have been Miles and Bird in the Club Next Door.
But style or era didn’t matter. The mystique and romance of jazz took over. It was easy to realize why jazz stays forever in the lives of those who get its unique message. I want to thank Roy Hargrove for the voyage into timelessness that he gave me through his muted solo. Roy was born to play the trumpet. He plays like he loves music, the ultimate compliment.
Key of G: Notes from George Wein®
Volume IV – April 5, 2010
George Wein Talks about Jazz Musicians and
CareFusion Jazz Festival New York | June 17 – 26, 2010
On February 25th, the New York Times acknowledged that the “Old Hand Tries a New Approach to Jazz Festivals.” I know my age, but for some strange reason I don’t feel old and as far as a “new approach,” nothing is really “new.” It’s just how you package what you already know. I have been producing festivals and concerts for over 60 years and I honestly don’t think I ever had an original thought in my head. (I’m sure some writers will want to take this “out of context”.) What I did was always try to “create” something a little different. There have been all kinds of festivals since the middle ages. All-star jazz concerts are part of jazz history, e.g. Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall and JATP. I have managed not to copy others, but when you have been in the game for over 60 years, you often find it difficult not to copy yourself. That’s what I’m trying to avoid with the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York (CFJFNY). It is a challenge.
A major event on the festival is a free concert at SummerStage which we have been able to produce with the sponsorship contribution of CareFusion and the cooperation of James Burke from the City Parks Foundation on June 23 at 7pm. This concert will be packed, so get there early and wait for the gates to be opened. SummerStage is in the heart of Central Park and it is a short walk to get there from the East and West 72nd Street entrances to the park.
The headliners are The McCoy Tyner Quartet and the Stanley Clarke Trio. But these famous leaders only indicate part of the story. Esperanza Spalding and Ravi Coltrane will be with McCoy and Hiromi is featured with Stanley.
I have become enamored with several young ladies who, in addition to being lovely, charming and talented, happen to be jazz musicians of exceptional quality. Happily for me, Esperanza, Hiromi and Anat Cohen have become a part of my life. (Anat is not on this concert but will be playing on the festival at both The Jazz Standard and at The Armstrong House in Queens.)
Incidentally, many of my venue partners wanted Jenny Scheinman to be a part of the festival, but the love of my life, Lorraine Gordon, has booked her to appear at the Village Vanguard the week before the festival. So Jenny is not available to us.
My interest in these ladies goes far beyond the “Women in Jazz Syndrome.” Jazz now belongs to the world more than ever. While it is, and probably always will be the cultural evolvement of the African-American experience, there are thousands of young guys and gals across the globe coming out of college and universities with degrees in jazz, who have a lot to say musically. Women in jazz are no longer unique. (There is a documentary to be on PBS in the near future entitled “The Girls in the Band” that shows historically how women have been involved with the dance bands and popular music for over 80 years. This film references The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Roz Kron was the only white woman in this band. She went to Newton High with me. She played better saxophone at that time than any of the guys that I had in my high school band.)
A couple of years ago, I heard there was an exciting flamenco guitarist (Niño Josele), who loved the music of Bill Evans, playing at the Vanguard. I was advised to go see him. For me, going to the Vanguard is fun. (I was gratefully invited by Lorraine to a private party celebrating the 75th birthday of the Vanguard a week or so ago. Memories abounded. Professor Irwin Corey, my favorite comedian was there – 94 years old – and he was quick to remind me that he coined the phrase “You can get more with a kind word – and a gun, than you can with just a kind word.”) I gingerly descended the steps into this hallowed cave while trying to hold on to the brass banisters, which have been pinned to the wall by the hands of the many millions of customers that have attended the Vanguard over the last 75 years. Reaching the bottom safely, I entered the room and took my usual seat next to Lorraine who probably told me immediately to shut up and listen to the music. The guitarist was wonderful, but on bass was a beautiful young lady I had never seen or heard of . I wondered, who is that playing the bass? Her intonation was exact, she played all the correct root notes and her time was perfect. Then she sang a song in Portuguese, which understandably made me think she might be Brazilian. Of course it was Esperanza, at that time, a 22-year old who taught at Berklee. After being introduced by Lorraine, I asked for her number and email. That same week, I was attending a concert of the Bechet Society and I heard a young Israeli lady on clarinet play a duet with guitarist Howard Alden on Jelly Roll Morton’s “Shreveport Stomp.” It was amazing and it was the first time I met Anat Cohen. I asked for her email.
A few weeks later, my friend Hans Zurbruegg in Bern, Switzerland, asked me to get a band together to play at his hotel, The Innere Enge, in Marian’s Jazz Room, named for his wife, another of my favorite ladies. Well, I had the two numbers in my pocket, so I called Esperanza and Anat. The same question to both: “Would you like to play a week with me in Bern, Switzerland?” The same answer from both: “Yes. It will be an honor, Mr. Wein.” The same retort from me: “Don’t say that it will be an honor. You haven’t played with me yet.”
The band I put together, two years ago, had Esperanza on bass (22 years old), Anat on sax and clarinet (32 years old), Howard Alden (49 years old), Randy Brecker on trumpet (62 years old) [someday I will show you the rider to his contract], Jimmy Cobb on drums (79 years old) and myself (82 years old). We had a ball for six nights, two shows a night. The spectrum of music that we covered was wide and with Mr. Cobb, the Jazz Master, we had a swinging time. So much for the gap in gender and age in jazz!
Now both Esperanza and Anat call me George. Everybody is now two years older. A few weeks ago, Esperanza asked if we could have a reunion of the band.
Hiromi, by chance, was in Bern playing a concert the night after we closed. I had become acquaintances with Hiromi because Ahmad Jamal had called me to tell me about her. Ahmad commands respect in all ways. I’ve known him since “Poinciana” was a hit record. He played at Storyville, my club in Boston in the 50’s and has appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Hiromi is a huge talent. That concert in Bern also featured Gerald Clayton. To hear those two young brilliant pianists go at each other made for an exciting musical evening. They each played solo and with a trio. The difference in styles, Clayton rooted in the jazz tradition of his musical family, and Hiromi, whose technique and imagination go beyond jazz, added to the thrill of a great concert.
Hiromi and I have become close friends. Her husband has made me a pair of shoes and we share sushi and sashimi.
In the past two years, these three ladies have become jazz luminaries and play all over the world. To have them on the CFJFNY is a coup. Hiromi, with Stanley Clarke, Esperanza with McCoy (Free concert with Central Park SummerStage) and Anat with her own group at the Jazz Standard.
An Important note: To promote a festival, it used to be all newspaper advertising. We still need newspapers, but now, just as important if not more so, is the website. The fact that in just this last year I have learned how to use the internet for information tells me that most everybody can find what they want on his or her laptop. The website for the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York is nycjazzfestival.com. Any help you can give in spreading the word would be appreciated.
The CareFusion Jazz Festival New York is a complex structure presenting over 45 events in a variety of venues from Carnegie Hall to Barbés, a club in Brooklyn that seats about 35 people. The schedule we put together is fun to study, but it is nycjazzfestival.com that will be continually updated with interesting information that should answer most of your questions. (Tickets for the Carnegie Hall concerts: Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Gary Peacock (June 17); Chris Botti (June 19); Joao Gilberto (June 22); and Herbie Hancock’s 70th Birthday (June 24), go on sale on March 22 By the time tickets go on sale, the website will be beginning to tell the story in detail of the CFNYJF.) As they used to say in Fenway Park when I went to Red Sox baseball games: “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.” Our website is our scorecard.
– GTW
Key of G: Notes from George Wein®
March 10, 2010
George Wein Talks about New York Jazz Scene and
CareFusion Jazz Festival New York | June 17 – 26, 2010
www.nycjazzfestival.com
We announced the schedule for the Care Fusion New York Jazz Festival a few days ago and after 60 years of producing jazz events I can still get excited; actually, more than usual.
On a lowering February night, Jef Soubiran and his brother Joce invited me to their club in Brooklyn to hear one of the groups who will appear on the CareFusion New York Jazz Festival in June (17th, to be exact). I have been living in Manhattan since 1960 and visiting New York City since 1939. I might have crossed the bridge into Brooklyn two dozen times. It is like another world to me and I am fascinated with what I discover every time I go there. Zebulon is a club situated in a particular section of Wythe Ave. in, I believe, Williamsburg, that has the sinister feeling of an iron curtain country in the depths of the Cold War. It appears to be totally deserted and on a cold winter night you could almost feel that Harry Lime (disguised as Orson Welles “The Third Man”) was lurking in a dark doorway of an abandoned warehouse. Nevertheless, with Andrew driving and through the use of the invaluable G.P.S. system, we found where we were going.
A small sign reading “Zebulon,” over the doorway of 250 Wythe Ave., was the only indication that there was anything related to possible activity in the neighborhood. After climbing a few steps and entering a dimly lit room, I found, to my astonishment, over 100 young people 25-35 years of age (some older) talking, drinking, socializing and enjoying themselves; no cover, no minimum, anticipating the appearance of a band.
With little fanfare, the music started, the talking quieted down, but didn’t stop. A low hum of people conversing continued in the darkened but friendly atmosphere. The church-like silence of the Manhattan jazz clubs was missing here, yet the music totally enveloped the room. The ambience (not the music) reminded me of “Storyville,” my jazz club in Boston (1950-1960). When the Basie Band (with Joe Williams), or Ella, or Erroll Garner were playing to packed houses, there was always the tinkling of glasses, the tapping of feet and quiet conversation, mostly about the music. A good time was being had by all, that evening at Zebulon.
As for the band in Zebulon, the title of the group would scare older jazz fans who loved and identified with the familiarities of calling Ella!, Basie! Duke! Miles! Trane! etc. “Mostly Other People Do the Killing” was the name of the band. I haven’t the slightest idea of the meaning of this title, but as for the music itself, there was a sense of joy permeating the bandstand.
With the quack-quacking of the saxophone and the lip-smacking of the trumpet, these guys were talking to each other. Maybe it was about love or a fight, but they were having fun. However, when the jibber-jabber stopped and the playing got serious you became aware that there were fine musicians on the stage, with excellent technique and individualistic expressions that at times swung like mad. It was good music. It wasn’t Basie or Garner but it had a lot to say in its own way. I was glad I was there and happy that “Mostly Other People Do the Killing” was to be part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York. The musicians in the group are: Peter Evans- trumpet, Moppa Elliot- bass, Jon Irabagon- tenor sax, Kevin Shea- drums.
High points of interest in the festival are many. On Thursday, June 24th, we have scheduled a late night jam session in honor of Herbie Hancock’s 70 years. This could be a wild affair, with many of New York’s best musicians. This session, at my old friend Michael Dorf’s City Winery, will probably run until 4 am. It will be a real jam session. More info on this later.
The big announcement we are all waiting for is who will be the guests at Herbie Hancock’s celebration of 7 decades in jazz. Wayne Shorter, Bill Cosby, Joe Lovano, and Terence Blanchard are already set. Many more friends are expected.
Having Joao Gilberto again is an exercise in how to present a genius from Brazil; however when I see him turn Carnegie Hall into a cathedral for Bossa Nova worshippers, it’s worth the effort necessary to solve the myriad of problems involved.
With the partnership of my old colleague Danny Melnick, we are able to present THE trio: Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Gary Peacock. This is always a privilege.
On June, 21st we have arranged for Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society to be presented at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, a place renowned for the appearance of a 16-year old Canadian young lady, Nikki Yanofsky, who sang “O’ Canada” at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Having Darcy and his 18-piece ensemble at Dizzy’s will be intriguing for us to see the response of an uptown crowd to the Secret Society. I think he will be a huge success. It is with the cooperation of Todd Barkan, musical director of Dizzy’s club, that this could be done.
There will be 45 separate events in the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York. Except for usual high ticket prices at Carnegie Hall, most events will either be free or with few exceptions, a charge of $15. Because of CareFusion’s sponsorship, we are able to give over 250 musicians a night’s work, and also help some small jazz clubs to get through these difficult times. Thanks CareFusion.
More to come – GTW
Key of G: Notes from George Wein®
February 26, 2010
NEA Jazz Master and producer George Wein is always ready to talk about music, especially jazz. One afternoon, he was sitting around his Manhattan apartment with no one to talk to, so he put his thoughts to paper — thoughts about the return of his jazz festival to New York and the many people/venues that are helping to make it happen. It’s 2010 and the ever cool George Wein is starting a blog! At almost 85, he’s seen, heard and experienced a lot, so he will probably just write whatever is on his mind and maybe your mind, too! Check it out and let us know what you think. If you see something you like, feel free to use quotes or extract excerpts. Also, if you have issues about which you’d like to hear George’s thoughts, drop us a line and we’ll see what he has to say. We’ll get back to you soon with a link, so you can hear about jazz in the Key of G. Thanks for reading!
The CareFusion Jazz Festival will be held in New York City from June 17 – 26, 2010. I first produced a jazz festival in New York in 1972. An incident at Newport the previous year, involving kids storming the stage, had meant for the time being it would be necessary to take the Newport Jazz Festival to an urban area. New York was barren in the summer, so 1972 saw me producing a June jazz festival for the next 36 years. When there was no jazz festival in 2009, I was quite amused to see a great deal of publicity bemoaning the fact, amused because for more than several years the critiques of the festival had been less than lukewarm. In fact, I was beginning to wonder why I continued to work so hard to produce an event that nobody in the jazz press seemed really to care about. In spite of this, when CareFusion, a leading global medical device company, sponsored my comeback to Newport in 2009, I suggested that maybe we should bring back a June jazz festival in NYC in 2010. They agreed. So here we are.
The question is: why have a jazz festival in NYC when there is literally a cornucopia of jazz every night? In perusing the two publications, “Jazz Inside New York” and Hot House, I realized that in the month of December 2009 alone, you could count up to 1,000 nights of jazz, Latino jazz-tinged music and Indie Rock (many fine jazz musicians are playing this music) appearing in clubs concerts, at schools and even free concerts. These events feature all styles of jazz from Vince Giordano’s band that so beautifully recreates the big band sounds of the 20’s and 30’s to the most contemporary sounds that can be heard many nights at the Jazz Gallery, a hidden upstairs space in an isolated section of Hudson St., or on the lower West Side of Manhattan.
It’s interesting that at the same time as all this is happening, 12 months a year in New York City, that some writers who have a voice in national press are spreading the rumor that jazz is dead. It is true that most of these venues are small. But does this mean death for jazz? I spent many nights in my youth as often as I could get to NYC. 52nd St. was a Mecca for me. It was the late 30s and early 40’s before I went in the Army (1943) to help end war forever!! I heard Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, and the Count Basie Orchestra to name a few. Towards the end of the 40’s, after my service, I was still going to 52nd St., and Dizzy, Bird and Miles and so many more had been added to the mix. But none of the venues on 52nd Street and the other clubs I frequented in NY held more than 100-150 people. I didn’t know it at the time, but the musicians were “well” paid! They made as much as $40 a week (sometimes). But jazz dead? No way. It was alive, well, incubating and leading up to the concert and festival era and in a sense the first major institution for jazz funded by the cultural billions of dollars now available in NY (JALC) and even to the President of the United States bringing jazz to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize awards. So is jazz any more in the throes of expiring than it has ever been? I don’t think so.
Thousands of young men and women are dedicating their lives to this music. JALC is perhaps the single most important and best financed venue for jazz in the city, but it doesn’t begin to encompass the energy that is pouring out of talented musicians of all ages every night in NYC.
If I were to gather this energy to create a unique New York jazz festival I would need help – a lot of help.
What I noticed in checking out the jazz scene over many nights out on the town was that in addition to the plethora of musical creativity, there had developed a group of young producers who were totally enmeshed with jazz that was directing their lives. So I realized I could take advantage of that. Here was the help I needed.
At the Jazz Gallery I met Rio Sakairi who has a reading on the pulse of the young experimenting musicians in the city. Rio was quick to come to my aid. We have produced six evenings at the Jazz Gallery that will enhance the image of what jazz is in NYC.
At the Jazz Standard, I encountered Seth Abramson who works with more established artists at Danny Meyer’s rib joint, which has become, along with the Vanguard, the Blue Note, Iridium and Birdland, one of the preeminent jazz clubs in the Apple. We will do five evenings there.
I felt jazz should have more of an exposure uptown, so I asked Laura Kaminsky of Symphony Space to work with me. We have produced some interesting concerts which include the contribution of Eric Offner and the Bechet Society. While recognizing youth, I still believe jazz is a noun from J to Z.
Harlem had to be on the agenda. I asked Pat Cruz at the Harlem Gatehouse and we have several concerts there. In addition, over the years we have established a tradition of presenting concerts at the Schomburg Center and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Both Howard Dodson and Thelma Golden, respectively, were eager to be part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival.
Brice Rosenbloom and Simon Rentner are two young entrepreneurs who work at Le Poisson Rouge. They have a multitude of ideas, so we are doing several nights there. In addition, Brice and Simon will produce a concert at historic Town Hall.
CareFusion asked if it were possible to do something in Central Park. We approached Central Park SummerStage, and after a meeting with James Burke and Erika Elliot, we have come up with one of the most exciting free jazz concerts New York will ever see.
What about Brooklyn? I keep hearing that there is an exciting jazz scene over the bridge. So one night a few weeks ago, Bennett Jackson, John Phillips and I headed off to check it out. At Zebulon I met Jef Soubiron, who runs the club along with his brother Joce. We were greeted by Olivier Conan at Barbès and at Puppet, Jaime Affoumado was happy to see us. So we will have at least nine or 10 nights of jazz in this energized metropolis. In addition, for several years we have established a tradition of including a free concert in Prospect Park. We are working with Jack Walsh and Rachel Chanoff. This will continue.
In Queens, working with Michael Cogswell of the Louis Armstrong House to produce a fulfilling program for Pops’ fans at the Armstrong House has been a rewarding experience. This will be one of the highlights of the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York.
The finale of the festival will be a midnight jam session hosted by my old friend, Michael Dorf at his beautiful new City Winery.
One important concern – I want to make jazz concerts available to the young fan who does not have as much money to spend in his/her pocket. I have asked all these venues to charge only $15.00 admission with no additional minimum. For the majority of locations, this will be the case.
In addition, we will have a limited number of tickets priced at $15 for our bigger concerts at Carnegie Hall. These will be important events and in several cases the artists performing will be making their only NYC appearance of the year.
On January 9th I attended several Winterfest Jazz Festival events on Bleecker Street in the Village. Thousands of predominantly young fans filled the street going from club to club, enjoying pure jazz. I hadn’t seen such energy for a genre of music since the folk scene in Greenwich Village when Dylan, Peter, Paul and Marry, The Clancy Brothers and many other wonderful artists were emerging. I was very impressed by the spirit and energy and I think it bodes well for the future of jazz.
So that is a short description of the CareFusion Jazz Festival New York and how I hope to make the world ever more aware that NYC is the jazz capital of the world and to acknowledge the people who work so hard to make this a continuing effort.
