Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Blindfold Test: Ethan Iverson
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
João Gilberto (1931–2019)
(Photo: YouTube Screenshot)To mark the passing of João Gilberto, we’re revisiting the piece below, which originally ran in our March 2016 issue.
Resonance Records producer Zev Feldman unabashedly refers to the tapes of Stan Getz’s quartet and Brazilian guitarist/singer João Gilberto at Keystone Korner in May 1976 as “the crown jewels.” They are now available as two albums, Moments In Time (by Getz’s quartet with pianist Joanne Brackeen, drummer Billy Hart and bassist Clint Houston) and Getz/Gilberto ’76, featuring the same personnel, plus the legendary guitarist.
“When [Resonance founder] George Klabin and I learned about these tapes, we realized how important they were,” Feldman said. “And when I finally heard them, I just melted. I started thinking about how we could get these performances out to the public, and I never stopped thinking about it.”
Former Keystone Korner owner Todd Barkan, now a New York City-based producer, couldn’t stop thinking about them, either.
“For years, I kept those recordings in a sealed box like a little savings account,” said Barkan. “I’ve long considered these recordings to be the anchor of the club’s legacy, and it has been a mission of mine to get these out someday.”
“We started working with Todd in 2009,” said Feldman, “and at first he wasn’t even willing to discuss the possibility. We had to prove ourselves.”
One of the keys for both Barkan and Resonance was ensuring that all the rights were cleared, performers or their estates paid and the packaging put together in a way that reflected the performances’ historical importance.
Feldman and Klabin interviewed pianist Brackeen and drummer Hart—the surviving members of Getz’s quartet—and commissioned essays from jazz historian James Gavin and critic Ted Panken. Barkan and Getz’s son Steve contributed commentary, and Feldman wrote about the quest to bring the recordings to the public.
“This project took three years,” said Barkan. “The term ‘labor of love’ is terribly overused, but this is one.” DB
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
Apr 22, 2025 11:50 AM
Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
