When I met Nadine Hutton last October, my first thought was this: She's what I would have been, if I were South African, a woman, had far, far fewer hangups, and more talent. Of course, that's a complete fantasy. I know -- heck, you know -- that no matter how South African, female, footloose, and fancy-free I manage to become, I'll never be as cool as Nadine.
Nadine's an artist and photographer, not a musician. But, as the second video clearly shows, she's sure 'nuff funky. (The first video is an introduction to her wide-ranging work.) She's in Los Angeles right now, where for the next few weeks, she'll be an artist-in-residence a the 18th Street Arts Center. That's reason enough to celebrate.
Nadine's one of my favorite photographers. I love her portraits -- for instance, two images that she made of the great Hugh Masekela. The first makes me happy; the second blows me away. You can see them here and here.
I'm also a big fan of an ongoing series of photographs that she's making with an iPhone, in which she's exploring, as she says, "a personal, often ironic and humorous vision of home, Johannesburg." You can see these wonderful images here.
Nadine's documentary photography is as strong as her more purely artistic work. "I Have Fallen," an essay on poor whites in South Africa is an example. As both photography and journalism, it's probably the best work I've seen on the subject. (I've discussed some recent photo essays on poor whites here and I've looked at the historical backstory, here.)
A Funky Friday without music? Not a chance. Play that second video, again. It will make you want to dance.
This is great news. I was lucky enough to hear Wolf and the jazz ensemble rehearse last night, and I can tell you that it's going to be a terrific concert.
Warren Wolf, rehearsing with members of the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, 26 April 2012. [Photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2012. Click on the images to see larger versions.]
Wolf released his first album last year. (You can hear a track in the video below.) He says that he's "trying to bring forth what most cats did back in the day, coming out right at you swinging, nice and hard, not a lot of hard melodies or weird time signatures. I like to play really hard, fast and kind of flashy. I like to take it to a whole other level."
Also on the album are bassist Christian McBride (who co-produced the recording), pianist Peter Martin, drummer Greg Hutchinson, alto and soprano saxophonist Tim Green, and, on two tracks, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt.
Warren Wolf, "One for Lenny." From the album Warren Wolf.
It doesn't surprise me that the university's music department has a lot of good things to say about Wolf. In the jazz world, he's making a name for himself.
Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, Maryland, who has recorded two albums under his own name and performs internationally with jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Christian MacBride, Jeff "Tain" Watts, and Esperanza Spaulding. His cutting-edge work as a leader has included some of the most forward looking up-and-comers in the genre including Darren Barrett on the trumpet and saxophonist Walter Smith. [His] a luminous talent... combines mastery of vibraphone/marimba, drums, and piano with a unique compositional style.
Warren Wolf talking shop with University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble drummer Kendrick Smith, 26 April 2012.
Tomorrow night's concert will be the first time the Jazz Ensemble has hosted a vibraphonist. Wolf will be featured on compositions by John Coltrane, Thad Jones, Pat Metheny and Kenny Dorham, among others. The evening will also include two compositions by the jazz ensemble's director, John D'earth.
But wait, there's more. Three student vocalists will perform in a variety of styles. Gracie Terzian will sing her original lyrics to the Wayne Shorter classic, "Iris," from Miles Davis' groundbreaking album, ESP. Adrianna Foster will revive the Billie Holliday classic "Fine and Mellow." And Emily Voreas will appear with the band for the third time singing a new D'earth composition entitled "We Shall See. "
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Warren Wolf and the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, 8:00 pm, Saturday, 28 April 2012, Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. More information, here.
When I was 13, I thought the Monkees were cool. I wasn't supposed to, of course, but there was no one around to tell me that my musical tastes were politically suspect.
At the time, I lived with my family in the tiny rural burg of Gambier, Ohio, and went to junior high a few miles away in Mt. Vernon, which wasn't a whole lot bigger. On a good day, the population of Gambier was about 2,000, and that included the Kenyon College students. A dozen or so of us were black -- children, college students, grown-ups. We certainly didn't constitute anything you could call a black community. The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power were distant rumors, at least for the kids.
There were a few more black families in Mt. Vernon, but we didn't know them, and I didn't meet any of the children in school. Except for David Taylor, the best athlete around, and me, the worst, all the kids in our group were white. And, when it came to music, TV, and just about everything else, I liked what they liked, and we all liked the Monkees. It would have been hard to add some soul to my musical diet, even if I had wanted to. The black-oriented stations from Columbus and Cleveland were awfully hard to pick up on my little AM radio.
In the summer of '67, my family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, a big city with a large, angry, and deeply politicized black community. When school started that fall, I was going to learn -- and learn quick -- that I was doing blackness entirely wrong. During the summer, however, I was pretty much on my own. There weren't many kids my age of any color in our immediate neighborhood. I had to find ways to entertain myself.
Along came the Monkees. I don't know how I found out that they were going to play a concert at the Cincinnati Gardens (an old, dismal basketball arena that has long since been torn down). [Correction: Another John, who also grew up in Cincinnati, left a comment saying that the Gardens is still standing. Memory is a funny thing.] I may have heard about it on the radio -- I would have been listening to WSAI, a Top 40 station -- or read about it in the newspaper. But I half remember that my father told me about it and offered to buy me a ticket.
I jumped at the chance. I'd never been to a rock concert, and the idea of going to one seemed like a very grown-up thing to do. And, besides, it was the Monkees.
Now, the Monkees weren't my favorite rock band -- that honor went (and probably still goes) to the Beatles. But they were definitely cool and I couldn't wait to see them.
When my father dropped me off at the Gardens, on a hot July evening, it was still light out. I can't remember anything else until I was in my seat and getting a funny look from another father who was there with his daughter and a bunch of her friends. I was in a daze of excitement and didn't think much of it.
The warm-up band was the Count Basie Orchestra. (Yes, I know, that can't possibly be right. But that's the way I remember it, although I admit that I could be mixing it up with some other concert.) In any case, it was sometime after the Basie band stopped playing, while we were waiting for the Monkees to appear, that I slowly began to realize two things -- I was just about the only boy in a sea of girls and the only black person in a sea of whites.
Being the only boy bothered me most. I was used to being the only black kid, or nearly the only one, in just about every place I found myself -- school, church, play... Being the only boy, however, that was new. For the first time, I started wondering if liking the Monkees was truly cool.
Then Davy, Micky, Michael, and Peter came out and banished all doubt. They were cool, and I had a great time.
When my father picked me up after the concert, he gave me the same funny look that the dad in the arena had. I guess he'd been watching the crowd flood out of the Gardens -- 10,000 white girls and me.
Klezmer-funk? You'd better believe it. It works, and it's bad to the bone.
Last weekend in New York, I had the pleasure of meeting clarinetist David Krakauer, who leads of Abraham Inc. along with Fred Wesley, who funkateers worldwide know from his long association with James Brown, and hip-hop renegade Socalled. I loved what he had to say about music, especially his own music, and in particular -- given my funkadelic youth -- Abraham Inc. When I got back to my hotel room, I watched a couple of the group's videos and knew immediately whose funk I'd be featuring on this Friday. The music blew me away. I bet you'll like it, too.
For the last few years, the young Austrian composer, arranger, and conductor Barbara Bruckmueller and her band have been cooking up a tasty musical gumbo in the wilds of central Europe. All sorts of good things go into their pot -- ballads, New Orleans styles, odd meters, the Great American Songbook, Brazilian music, funk, rock, punk, and a little chanson. That list might look like a mish-mash, but, like good Louisiana chefs, Brockmueller and company bring it all together.
The video below is a terrific example. It's from a gig just a week or so ago at Porgy and Bess, a club in Vienna. It starts slow, and it ends big.
The Barbara Bruckmueller Big Band:
Andi See, Viola Falb, Cédric Gschiwnd, Martin Harms, Florian Fennes: saxophones
Andi Pranzl, Bastian Stein, Simon Plötzeneder: trumpets
Robert Bachner, Mario Vavti, Martin Grünzweig: trombones
Hermann Ebner, Michael Handler: French horns
Hepi Kohlich: piano
Peter Panayi: guitar
Karl Saye (subbing for Gina Schwarz)r: bass
Wolfgang Kendl: drums
Barbara Bruckmüller: composer, arranger, leader
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Yes, it's Friday the 13th. If anything's going to bring you luck on this trickster rabbit of a day, it's good music. Spend the day listening, that's my advice.
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