Although HR-57 advertised last night’s screening/score performance of Elevator to the Gallows as featuring the Thad Wilson Big Band, the evening actually found Wilson leading a quintet, featuring 19-year-old Elijah Jamal Balbed on tenor sax and D.C. veterans John Ozment (piano), Michael Bowie (bass), and Jimmy “Junebug” Jackson (drums). More appropriate, since the film was originally scored by a quintet, but why not the band as advertised?

“The band basically mutinied on me, so I shut it down,” Wilson explained during a set break. “The bottom line? Money fucks up everything. The gigs just weren’t there. But I also felt like the discipline just wasn’t there with a lot of people. They didn’t get the hard work and rehearsals that come with a big band, and they weren’t into the ensemble work either. It was more an attitude of ‘Hey! I can solo in this band!’”

The ensemble, variously billed as the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra or the Ugetzu Big Band, had been a staple of the Washington scene since January 1998. It had become something of a required course for D.C. jazz musicians, with players from Nasar Abadey and Reginald Cyntje to Bowie and Jamal passing through its ranks over the years.
Read More “Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra: “Shut Down”” »

Thanks to Ted Scheinman for covering last week.

Nov. 20
Local trumpeter Kenny Rittenhouse has a  straightahead, hard-bop approach, but always produces a probing, thoughtful sound—almost like a flugelhorn—that distinguishes him in the U.S. Army Blues, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and his own trios, quartets, and quintets that gig around town. Those pretty notes, to paraphrase Louis Armstrong, go right through you. Hear how quickly they sink in when Rittenhouse performs with his quintet at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th Street NW. $20.
Read More “Jazz Setlist: Nov. 20-25, 2009″ »

Good news this morning from Nasar Abadey, D.C. jazz drummer and leader of the ensemble Supernova. Abadey and Supernova (this time in quartet form) have been accepted as part of the U.S. State Department’s international cultural-exchange program (in partnership with Jazz At Lincoln Center), “The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad” for 2010.

They, and nine other groups performing American musical styles, were selected out of 130 applicants, 35 of whom were invited to audition in New York City this summer.

This means that next year, over the course of eight months, Abadey and Supernova (saxophonist Joe Ford, pianist Allyn Johnson, and bassist James King) will be touring 40 countries across the world, bunched into several tours of approximately four weeks. Abadey reports that he’s most excited about a visit to Central America that may last a full six weeks. Meantime they’ll also squeeze in free performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York, and the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium in D.C.

Nov. 5
Once upon a time it seemed that New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton was the reincarnation of Louis Armstrong, with his bright virtuosic phrases and Big Easy swing. Then came 2003’s Sonic Trance and last year’s Into the Blue, which transplanted Payton into slow, spacy fusion jams that had more in common with Bitches Brew than Satchmo Plays W.C. Handy. Though he now grounds himself with electronics (and occasionally even techno beats), Payton hasn’t sacrificed his roots in blues, lyricism, and swing—he just lifts them into the stratosphere. Payton performs with his quartet at 8 and 10 pm at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue NW. $30.

Nov. 7
On the other hand, Marcus Strickland jumps freely back and forth between acoustic and electric musical projects. The tenor saxophonist has worked with drummers Roy Haynes and Jeff “Tain” Watts as well as the two (equal and opposite) major trumpeters of the era, the traditionalist Wynton Marsalis and experimentalist Dave Douglas, and finds a comfortable and unique niche in all settings. That also applies to his own bands – Strickland leads both the Twi-Life group, which flirts with electro-funk and hip-hop, and a straight-ahead trio. It’s the latter that appears at Bohemian Caverns at 9 and 11 pm, featuring Strickland’s identical twin brother E.J. on drums and DC native and this year’s Thelonious Monk Competition winner Ben Williams on bass. Don’t be fooled: the acoustic trio will offer plenty of surprises from the other side of the fence.

Read More “Jazz Setlist: Nov. 5 – 11″ »

It’s a rare jazz musician whose work earns its own name—and rarer still in an enthusiastic but small scene like D.C.’s. Yet Nasar Abadey—the District’s dominant jazz drummer, who performs this weekend at Bohemian Caverns with his Supernova ensemble—calls his music “Multi-D.” It locates its roots in the “spiritual jazz” movement that John Coltrane and his disciples developed in the ’60s and ’70s, but rarely stays there.

The sole Supernova album, 2000’s Mirage, mixes musical elements of bebop, Afro-Cuban and -Brazilian, fusion, funk, Eastern, and even new-age music atop its foundation of avant-garde intensity a la Coltrane.  Abadey, a Cheverly resident and teacher at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory, explains that the name “Multi-D” is derived from the music’s questing “in multiple directions, and also in and out of multiple dimensions at the same time.”

A devout Sufi—the mystical branch of the Islamic faith—Abadey finds in his music a means of communion with higher spiritual planes. “Sometimes I’m practicing down in the basement, all by myself, and I hear voices saying ‘Yeah! Yeah, go ‘head, yeah!’” he says. “I open my eyes and I look around…and no one’s there. And that, to me, is spirits in a spirit world who are communicating with me, and they are inspiring me to continue.”
Read More “Nasar Abadey: Travels in Multi-D” »

Oct. 30
The Brooklyn-born pianist Randy Weston was reared in blues and gospel, grew up with some of bebop’s revolutionaries, and as an adult began exploring musical traditions from all across the African continent—from Somalia to Nigeria to Morocco. His vision manages to assimilate all of those sources into an insoluble whole, equally able to interact with a Harlem big band or the Master Musicians of Jajouka. Weston’s music encompasses many musical traditions and also many human experiences: His sound can be dark or joyful, gnarled or straightforward, folksy or erudite—sometimes all at once. The only two things you’re sure to encounter at a Weston concert are the fierce but complex rhythm he generates with his percussive piano style and the profound emotional impact that explodes out of every performance, no matter what he plays. Weston’s African Rhythms Trio performs at 8 P.M. and 10 p.m. at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $30.

Read More “Jazz Setlist, Oct. 29 – Nov. 5″ »

Oct. 23
With his gravity-defying hair and temperamental attack on the piano, comparisons between Eric Lewis and Beethoven are probably inevitable. They’re also apt: Lewis is a brilliant talent who loves to throw conventions to the wolves. His solo sets tend to include jazz standards, pop songs, rock anthems, even TV and movie themes—whatever gets his audience’s attention. As if that were ever a problem. The flamboyant Lewis treats his piano as though he were up against it in a boxing ring, giving jabs and feints while giving his whole body a workout on the bench. Lewis performs at 9:30 p.m. at HR-57, 1610 14th Street NW. $20.

Read More “Jazz Setlist: Oct. 22-28, 2009″ »

Oct. 16
Brass bands are hot at the moment: The New Orleans second-line configurations are back, but more experimental-minded musicians are also tackling the possibilities. That formula is the latest version of the ever-changing Reggie Nicholson Concept. Nicholson, an improvisational drummer and vibraphonist who belongs to Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), has made four recordings, each a completely different approach. His latest, Surreal Feel, is credited to Nicholson’s “Brass Concept,” featuring a tuba (Joseph Daley), french horn (Vincent Chancey), trombone (Curtis Fowlkes), and trumpet (Eddie Allen). This lineup plays at 8:00 pm at Contradiction Dance in Takoma Park. $15.

Read More “Jazz Setlist: Oct. 15-21, 2009″ »

Washington bassist Ben Williams took first place last night in the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition at the Kennedy Center. His victory was a given after his incredible performance; your humble correspondent went looking to make book on Williams at intermission, and nobody would take the bet. But the D.C. audience put a load of extra enthusiasm into its standing ovation—in fact the ovation started with the second-place announcement.

Williams, who grew up in Michigan Park, graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and has played with D.C. jazz stalwarts including Allyn Johnson, Nasar Abadey, and Thad Wilson, was awarded a record deal with Concord Music Group and a $20,000 scholarship. Williams has already completed his master’s degree at Juilliard, “But ohh, don’t worry,” he says. “I got plenty of bills from school that these will go toward nicely.” (Second place winner Joe Sanders received $10,000, with $5,000 for third-place Matt Brewer.)
Read More “D.C. Native Wins 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition” »

Oct. 9
SaltmanKnowles has a single ambition: Melody. Bassist Mark Saltman and pianist William Knowles, both Howard music graduates and veterans of the D.C. scene, started the quintet specifically to combat the riffs and noodling they kept hearing; they want music that’s about lyrical tunes and memorable hooks. Their lush compositions make great ammunition for that cause, but the weapon that fires them is vocalist Lori Williams-Chisholm, distinguished by her clear voice, precise articulation, and the joy that’s evident in every note she sings. SaltmanKnowles plays Friday and Saturday nights at HR-57, 1610 14th St NW, $12.

Oct. 10
Forward-thinking bassist Dave Holland leads arguably the hippest quintet in progressive jazz, with unconventional approaches to form, harmony, and interplay between the musicians. Chalk it up to Holland’s uncanny ability to spot and coordinate talents–certainly it lends promise to any other combo he happens to be a part of. Take the Overtone Quartet: It includes Holland and saxophonist Chris Potter, two fifths of the Holland Quintet, but places them onstage with two jazz adventurers, pianist Jason Moran and drummer Eric Harland. The quartet played their first-ever gig in September, meaning their work here is sure to be fresh and exciting. The Overtone Quartet plays Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, $35.
Read More “Jazz Setlist: Oct. 8-14, 2009″ »