At the Vanguard
By John Murph
In late May 2022, pianist and composer Kris Davis realized a dream. She and her ensemble Diatom Ribbons performed six nights at the world’s most famous jazz venue — New York City’s Village Vanguard.
For sure, many pianists have documented their stints at the Village Vanguard. And some of those albums have become part of the pantheon best live albums in jazz history. Davis adds her scintillating new double-disc album, Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic Records) to that distinguished legacy.
By Ted Panken
Tyshawn Sorey’s latest release Continuing (Pi) is album three of a trilogy documenting Sorey’s unique pursuit of the jazz canon.
By Dan Ouellette
Dan Auerbach, the co-pilot of the dynamic blues-rock cookers The Black Keys and owner of his Nashville-based Easy Eye Sound studio, is the latest champion of the blues tradition with Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues), which arrived as an impressive compilation of relatively unknown elders and upstart new-to-the-attention bluesters.
By Peter Margasak
On the evening of Saturday, March 25, Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love was seated on the stage of the respected Oslo club Victoria — Nasjonal Jazzscene.
He was being interviewed by Lasse Marhaug, a veteran sound artist and graphic designer, who’s worked with the drummer for decades. In the midst of the conversation, Sebastian Uul, performing as Mr. Orkester — an unhinged one-man band — burst in from the rear of the club, turning the proceedings delightfully upside-down. The gathering was the third and final night marking the 10th anniversary of Nilssen-Paul’s raucous big band Large Unit, and the drummer was determined to make the occasion both outsized and full of surprises.
Before taking a live Blindfold Test in Indianapolis during the American Pianists Association Awards last April in Indianapolis, pianist Sullivan Fortner was asked first to tell the audience the deal he struck with his father. His father wanted the young pianist to go into medicine. Fortner said no. With tears in his eyes, Fortner’s dad relented, but asked his son to do one thing. “He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that you go and you get a master’s degree,” Fortner said. “At least when all else fails, you could teach. … So I went to Oberlin and Manhattan School and got a master’s degree.” The rest is history. Fortner is one of the bright stars on the jazz scene today who happened to win the American Pianists Association Award in 2015. This is his first Blindfold Test. He gave 1,000 stars to every artist because “If you play a jazz or anything closely remotely to this thing that we call jazz or African-American musical class or American classical music, everybody deserves a thousand stars.”
