The Search for Ten Unique Jazz Pianists

by Rachel on July 1, 2010

There’s this important piece of advice that I received from someone when I first began developing an interest in jazz piano during my freshman year of high school — pick a jazz pianist whose sound you’re the most attracted to and study his/her music over the course of their recorded career. In that instance several years ago, I found that I was the most attracted to the sound of Bill Evans in the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album — an interest that eventually broadened out to what you’re reading now.

This piece of advice came to mind again when I started teaching my first jazz student several weeks ago, so I’ve decided to burn him a CD of ten classic and diverse group of jazz pianists hailing from all different aspects of the genre. In order to give him a grasp of all the different styles of jazz piano, it’s a necessity for this CD to embody this diversity. It’s actually quite exciting passing on something I love to someone who’s still trying it out — it’s a bit reflective on the post I wrote several months back on my frustrations with meeting jazz much later than I’d like to have, especially since I’m going to be entering my last year of high school this fall.

I’ve also been privileged to be part of a thriving online jazz community via Twitter (more information about the Twitter Jazz Network can be found here), so I thought I’d reach out to them for this one. Here are the suggestions I received:

@thejazzpost: making up a CD of 10 jazz piano greats for one of my students. Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, Chick Corea…any suggestions?

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@mikelorenzmusic: keith jarrett, art tatum, bud powell, mccoy tyner, herbie hancock…first that came to mind…brad mehldau?…earl hines, james p. johnson

@R0j1b1anc0: Duke Ellington?…thelonious monk…ellis marsalis

@vijayiyer: thelonious monk, duke ellington, art tatum, bud powell, cecil taylor, mary lou williams, jamal, tyner, alice coltrane, hancock…Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, Elmo Hope, Bertha Hope, GERI ALLEN

@kingdahl: probably should add some Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, and if it were me, I’d add Cecil Taylor. :) & Vijay!

@BigSwingTheory: How about Keith Jarrett?

@Attiaflautist: how about Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner, or Duke Ellington! There’s so many to choose from! I love Chick Corea!

@atane: The hardbop guys! Sonny Clark, Bobby Timmons, Kenny Drew, Freddie Redd, Horace Silver, Horace Parlan, Duke Pearson…I’m sure you’ve heard the work of guys like Bobby Timmons & Sonny Clark, you just don’t know it. Never too late anyway. :)…Bobby Timmons on piano – http://youtu.be/VKXsnDvILmI & Sonny Clark – http://youtu.be/-j0k8EnNcT8 http://youtu.be/AyvA2UmzQ8A

@ElementsOfJazz: Marcus Roberts, Arturo O’Farrill , Antonio Jobim, Hank Jones, Gerri Allen, Jason Moran, Mulgrew Miller, Michel Petrucciani…

@uglyrug: Elmo Hope, Hampton Hawes, Kirk Lightsey, Herbie Nichols, Don Pullen, James P. Johnson, Charles Mingus (he played piano too)…

@paulhorton_: I know I’m late to this and practically everyone I love has been mentioned. What about willie the lion smith,Michel petrucciani

@fullyaltered: Wynton Kelly…Errol Garner, Art Tatum…Bud Powell

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And here are the ten artists that are going to be included on the CD:

1. Bill Evans: Alice in Wonderland (Take 2)/Sunday at the Village Vanguard

2. Thelonious Monk: Evidence/Monk’s Dream

3. Art Tatum: Limehouse Blues/The Art Tatum Legacy

4. Red Garland: If I Were a Bell/Red Garland’s Piano

5. Oscar Peterson: Love For Sale/Oscar Peterson Plays the Cole Porter Song Book

6. Sonny Clark: Cool Struttin’/Cool Struttin’

7. Ahmad Jamal: They Can’t Take That Away From Me/The Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings

8. Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage/Maiden Voyage

9. Brad Mehldau: Paranoid Android/Largo

10. Vijay Iyer: Big Brother/Historicity

Of course, these aren’t the only pianists that he’s going to be exposed to — but it’s a great starter list for now.

Thanks to everyone who contributed; I’ll let you know what he decides!

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: You’re My Everything/Fred Hersch Trio/Whirl

Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, Elmo Hope, Bertha Hope, GERI ALLEN

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Cassandra Wilson at the Catalina Jazz Club

by Rachel on June 25, 2010

cassandrawilson1Up until yesterday I had a solid assertion that Los Angeles and New York City had one very distinct contrast — New York City had the jazz scene I desired, and Los Angeles did not. There is, of course, a jazz scene that does exist here in Los Angeles — the only problem was that I’d only ever encountered it through venues like the Hollywood Bowl and the Walt Disney Concert Hall; venues that have housed jazz greats like Sonny Rollins and Pat Metheny, but consistently (and perhaps inevitably, because both are formal theaters) maintain a separation between performer and audience. I’m sure that anyone can understand my uncontainable excitement when I went from sitting several rows away from Sonny Rollins at the Walt Disney Concert Hall to several inches away from Jimmy Heath at the Blue Note Jazz Club.

I was pretty convinced that there was no chance in Los Angeles to see the kind of performances I’d seen in the New York City jazz clubs — those crowded, tightly-packed jazz clubs teeming with jazz enthusiasts, the opportunity to be casually sitting inches away from world-renowned jazz performers. Even the slightest bit of hope I’d found in coming across the album Bill Evans Trio At Shelly’s Manne-Hole in the CalArts library was diminished when I learned that the once-popular West Coast club was a thing of the past.

This mentality changed when I was invited to see Cassandra Wilson at the Catalina Jazz Club by Nick Szatmari, jazz bassist as well as an agent at the Universal Attractions Agency, whom I’d met on the airplane heading home from New York City. When I think about it, there’s some coincidental irony here — I just so happened to be wearing a shirt I’d bought at the Birdland Jazz Club, which sparked the conversation with Szatmari. It’s almost as if in some strange turn of events the New York City jazz scene introduced me to the Los Angeles jazz scene.

The Catalina Jazz Club was like nothing I’d ever seen here in Los Angeles. It was — by virtue of its location on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California — one of the larger venues I’ve been to, but it still possessed the same intimate qualities of the jazz clubs I’d visited in New York City.

And then there was Cassandra Wilson. She stepped on stage with a Cleopatra-esque grace, as the musicians beside her began setting up an earthy groove, with such an illuminating presence.

To be honest, I often prefer attending pure instrumental jazz shows over those featuring vocalists because there’s a better chance of the music sounding organic — because more than once I’ve been disappointed when the vocalist (or in some cases, even the bandleader) casts the rest of the band in his shadow to draw more attention to himself. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Wilson back up a few steps when Jonathan Batiste took a wild solo at the piano — however illuminating she was on stage, it still felt like she was an integral part of the musical group rather than solely a featured artist.

I’m going to conclude here with the topic I’ve been struggling to address since I began writing — Wilson’s voice. Exactly how to describe it, I’m not sure — but it possesses that same romantic, whispery tone as Chet Baker in his recording of My Funny Valentine. In fact, many of the pieces she sang that night revolved around the romantic notion of love — Caravan, Lover Come Back to Me, Harvest Moon. Much of the audience, me included, was leaned back, softly sinking into their seats, entranced by that soft, smokey voice of hers.

Here’s one of the first recordings that introduced me to Cassandra Wilson:

Thanks again to Nick Szatmari of Universal Attractions for inviting me to the show.

szatmari

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: T.T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune Two)/Bill Evans Trio/Tokyo Concert

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New York City, Day 4: Vijay Iyer Trio @ Birdland

June 21, 2010

Vijay Iyer had a distinctly different demeanor from many musicians that I’ve met in the past. It wasn’t that difficult to spot him from my table when I arrived at the Birdland Jazz Club — he looked exactly the way I’d seen him in pictures: sharp, clean-cut, emanating professionalism. In fact, his image was so [...]

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New York City, Day 3: Dizzy Gillespie Big Band @ the Blue Note

June 16, 2010

Tonight was definitely a contrast to the Fred Hersch show I went to yesterday night — I was at the Blue Note to hear the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. I learned several things at the Village Vanguard show, one of which being the necessity of showing up early. I forgot to mention (embarrassingly enough) that [...]

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New York City, Day 1 & 2: Fred Hersch Trio @ Village Vanguard

June 16, 2010

The Village Vanguard immediately fulfilled some of my expectations the moment I went through that red door. It was crowded with people — a few college students, but mostly those beyond twice my age — nearly all the way to the back of the room by the time I arrived. It was frozen in time, [...]

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New York City, Day 1 & 2: Columbia University Tour

June 15, 2010

One thing’s for sure: New York City is nothing like home. There’s really no way I can describe the huge shift from stepping out of my house to trimmed lawns and white houses to  bustling crowds of people and the incessant honks of car horns. And there’s absolutely always something to do here. The lights [...]

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Off to the Big Apple!

June 13, 2010

The title of this post says it all: I’m off to New York City. Tomorrow morning I’m leaving at about 4:30 AM to catch a morning flight on Virgin Airlines with my family to New York City with two main goals in mind: (a) tour colleges and (b) check out the NYC jazz scene. But [...]

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Hanging Out With Nilan/Rastegar/Bean at the Watermark

June 6, 2010

Last night I had the privilege of meeting bass player Kaveh Rastegar and drummer Jaydon Bean (as well as my teacher, Mark Nilan Jr.) at the Watermark on Main in Ventura. Let me tell you, it was quite the experience just watching the three musicians set up in such a tiny venue — a small [...]

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In All Seriousness…

June 2, 2010

I was at a neighbor’s house Sunday night for a light get-together and a hearty barbecue — the same neighbor, Richard, who was the first to toss some jazz classics in my direction. Throughout the night, several names were thrown about and excitedly discussed — Toots Thielemans, George Benson, and Rod Piazza, to name a [...]

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Hanging Out With Ann Patterson’s Maiden Voyage

May 17, 2010

After a grueling two weeks with four AP tests, I can finally open my computer for reasons other than the College Board. But still, these past two weeks were also a collection of some valuable experiences in jazz. (Not to mention that the last few months of life in front of AP review books and [...]

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