Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
The mood was solemn in the Jazz Tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 28, as word got around that bassist, Percy Heath, 81, had died earlier that day at home in New York. But there’s nowhere better to celebrate the life of a jazz musician than New Orleans, where music and funerals go hand in hand.
With Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums and his brother, Jimmy on tenor and soprano sax, the band opened their late afternoon set appropriately with Jimmy Heath’s “A Sound For Sore Ears.” After a few tunes, Jimmy acknowledged the passing of his brother and bandmate. “We’re going to dedicate this one to Percy,” said Jimmy, as he introduced Kenny Dorham’s “No End,” which the Heaths recorded on their 1981 album, “Brotherly Love.” “This one is entitled ‘No End’ and there’s no end to the beauty.” The set closed out the day’s festivities, and by 7pm, a large, cheering crowd had filled the tent to support the legendary brothers as they played through their loss.
The New Orleans-based trio, “Drums and Tuba,” who recently relocated from New York City, also drew a large crowd to check out their dark, experimental sound. With a tuba on his lap and a trumpet by his side, Brian Wolff operated a mixer with pedals and effects that twisted around Neal McKeeby’s guitar melody and traded time with low brass blasts.
Earlier this week at Mid-City Lanes Rock ‘N Bowl, the two-day-long “Ponderosa Stomp” highlighted the important compositions of songwriters like James “Blood” Ulmer, Link Wray and Johnny Farina of Santo and Johnny. On the Tuesday and Wednesday between Jazz Fest weekends, the two 8-hour shows gave nods to the innovations of more than 60 local jazz, funk, soul and r&b players. The show, now in its fourth year, is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about Jazz Fest events outside the Fairgrounds.
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
