Philip Booth's Scribe Life

Please Join Me at my new/old blogs - Between the Grooves, and Flickers & LIt

2010-01-13T12:44:00.006-05:00

After a period of returning to Scribe Life for all of my music AND film coverage, I am reverting back to two separate blogs, both on WordPress.

Why? Because 1)Covering the waterfront on one blog tends to annoy/confuse readers; and 2)Wordpress is a superior blog publishing application, more easy to use, embed media, and update, and more likely to show up in searches.

So I'm mothballing Scribe Life, at least for the time being.

for music - Between the Grooves - http://www.betweenthegrooves.wordpress.com

for film/books - Flickers and Lit - http://www.flickersandlit.wordpress.com

THANK YOU for reading Scribe Life, and please join me at the above blogs.

Florida/New York Singer Whitney James Celebrates Her Debut CD

2010-01-07T00:18:00.004-05:00

Rising-star jazz singer Whitney James, who splits her time between residences in Tierra Verde (the Tampa Bay area) and Astoria, Queens, has just released a startlingly impressive and mature debut CD, The Nature of Love, which also features the playing of acclaimed trumpeter and flugelhorn player Ingrid Jensen.

My feature on Whitney runs Thursday in the St. Petersburg Times' Weekend entertainment section. Click here to link directly to that story.

Or see below for the extended "director's cut" of the piece:

A dance student since age five, and a musical theater enthusiast since the days when she and her sister and neighborhood kids put on shows and charged a dime a seat, singer Whitney James first took the stage at age nine. That's when she played Dorothy in a children's production of "The Wizard of Oz."

The Chicago native, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, switched her focus to singing at age 10, when she embarked on classical vocal lessons with an opera singer.
But the jazz bug bit hard when James was 13, courtesy of her mom, who bought the budding vocalist a pair of cassette tapes by legendary jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker.

"I absolutely fell in love with Sarah Vaughan. I couldn't get enough of her sound," said James, a Tierra Verde resident since relocating to the Tampa Bay area from Seattle in 2007. "The songs were so romantic and the lyrics were beautiful.

"That tape really set me on the jazz path," she said. "You had to be yourself and interpret the lyric, certainly, but you also had to infuse yourself into the song. That way, you can really expand and explore the boundaries of your voice. Charlie took a little longer to grow on me. Sarah Vaughan and Charlie Parker were my gateway drugs to the jazz world, if you will."

James demonstrates her allegiance to the jazz vocal tradition -- she also cites Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McCrae and Shirley Horn as major influences -- on her just-released debut CD, The Nature of Love.

She's joined by New York jazz heavy hitters, including trumpeter and flugelhorn player Ingrid Jensen and a rhythm trio led by pianist Joshua Wolff, on a set of standards including "How Deep is the Ocean" and "The Very Thought of You." The singer also offers smart readings of a challenging Jimmy Rowles ballad, "A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)" and Benny Golson's hard-swinging "Whisper Not."

For her CD-release concert, Friday night at the Palladium in St. Petersburg, James will be backed by Wolff and three stand-out local musicians -- saxophonist Jeremy Powell, bassist Alejandro Arenas and drummer Mark Feinman.

Although continuing to embrace recordings by jazz singers, James eventually rebuilt her jazz-singing concept on the sound of instrumentalists, she said.

"Miles is a huge influence -- his tone and the way he plays is so gorgeous, so transformative," she said. "And I love Bill Evans, and Keith Jarrett, and Dexter Gordon. I had soaked myself in a lot of jazz singers, including Dinah Washington and Etta James. But I made a very conscious effort when I was 17 to stop listening to singers and start listening to horn players and guitar players and piano players."

James continued her music studies at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she studied with singer Jay Clayton. She stayed in the Pacific Northwest for 13 years, finding her way to jazz and neo-soul gigs, along with opportunities to record commercial jingles.

Clayton, who served as the CD's artistic consultant, suggested that James ask the Canadian-born Jensen to play on the recording. It made for a rather organic process, as James had worked with pianist Wolff and Jon Wikan, the CD's drummer, around Seattle. And Wikan is married to Jensen. James also has spent much time in New York in recent years, as she and her husband have a second home in Astoria, Queens.

James spent one day rehearsing with the rhythm section and a second day with the band joined by Jensen before heading to the Brooklyn studio, where the group recorded live, playing no more than three takes of each tune.

Jensen wound up on five of the CD's nine tracks, and the singer and the trumpeter come off as natural-born foils, particularly on the extended, open-ended conclusions of "Tenderly" and "How Deep is the Ocean."

"The interplay between the voice and the horn is very special," James said. "I wanted someone to feature, as well as to complement what was going to happen vocally. I was very lucky to have her. When you play with players like that, they really bring out the best in you."

Let the Right One In: More Love From UK Critics

2010-01-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

Released in the U.S. to wide acclaim in 2008, Swedish horror shocker Let the Right One In (see my below posts) apparently didn't play many UK theaters until last year.

And the critical reaction to the film, across the pond, was similar to the reaction it received stateside: Tomas Alfredson's alternately tender and violent tale of pre-teen angst, masquerading as a vampire flick, landed at No. 5 in the year-end poll of 60 critics conducted by the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine.

The full list (of 10), as might be expected, is a bit Eurocentric, with the French-Italian A Prophet at the top. Two entries are from Claire Denis, and also included is Antichrist, the latest typically provocative film from Sweden's Lars von Trier.

It's reassuring to see Kathryn Bigelow's intense and brilliant war film The Hurt Locker land at No.2; Pete Docter's animated comic drama Up and Quentin Tarantino's cheeky WW II historical rewrite Inglourious Basterds are the other U.S. productions on the list.

But back to Let the Right One In. Check out what the poll's critics had to say about the film:

Leonardo Garcia-Tsao (Critic, Mexico) - Teenage angst meets vampirism in a meticulously crafted film that transcends genre conventions and finds beauty in alienation.

Ryan Gilbey (‘New Statesman’, UK) - Few pictures have combined tenderness, compassion and extreme bloodletting to such memorable effect. I didn’t realise how protective I felt towards the film until I caught myself grinding my teeth at the news of a forthcoming US remake.

Carmen Gray (Critic, UK) - With a soft spot for vampire films at the worst of times, I was touched by this very human, bittersweet take on the genre.

Mark Kermode (Critic, UK) - This year’s Pan’s Labyrinth, in which Alfredson reinvents the vampire genre from scratch.

Derek Malcolm (‘Evening Standard’, UK) - Vampire movies are two-a-penny just now, but this extraordinary Swedish effort is easily the best around — an art film with considerable commercial potential.

Demetrios Matheou (‘Sunday Herald’, UK) - Amid the current craze for horror, this phenomenally well-crafted Swedish vampire film offers more bite than all the others put together.

Sukhdev Sandhu (‘Daily Telegraph’, UK) - From documentaries such as Three Miles North of Molkom to the Wicker Man-sampling visuals of Gothenburg’s Sincerely Yours label, I spent a lot of 2009 being ravished by Sweden. Best of all was this exquisitely melancholic and heartbreakingly beautiful vampire love story that also featured my favourite exchange of dialogue: “Will you be my girlfriend?" “Oskar, I’m not a girl.”

David Thompson (Critic and documentarian, UK) - Never mind the reinvention of vampires as soulful celibate lovers, this was a fabulous twist on the genre focusing on the theme of adolescent loneliness.

I'm looking forward to revisiting Alfredson's film on Blu-ray.

"Let Me In" - Release Date Announced

2010-01-06T15:38:00.003-05:00

Quick Update: Let Me In, the U.S. remake of Swedish horror film Let the Right One In, is now slated for release on Oct. 1.

And director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) is now taking full credit for the screenplay (see my below post).

A rating is yet to be determined; here's hoping that the rough/violent edges aren't smoothed out to get the film to PG-13.

Will "Cop Out" and "Greenberg" Top the Best Comedies of 2010?

2010-01-06T14:05:00.001-05:00

Too early to gauge which comedies will be the best of 2010?

Paste mag takes a stab, and several good directors and writers are on the list, including Kevin Smith (Cop Out), Noah Baumbach (Greenberg), Neil LaBute (Death at a Funeral, a remake of the Brit movie of the same name), and Todd Phillips (Due Date).

And Zach is back. Galifianakis, that is, a co-star of Phillips' breakout comedy The Hangover, and an inspired second fiddle on HBO's underappreciated comic noir series "Bored to Death." He's in the casts of Due Date and Jay Roach's Dinner for Schmucks.

For the picks, with video clips, click here.

Movie Remake Fever (2): Another Dune

2010-01-06T08:24:00.006-05:00

David Lynch's sprawling sci-fi flick Dune, intriguingly photographed and ambitious if overlong and convoluted, was given a mostly lukewarm reception by critics upon its release in 1984, and died at the box office.

The film, adapted from Frank Herbert's book of the same name, the most popular sci-fi novel in history, and featuring the likes of Kyle McLachlan, Brad Dourif, Max von Sydow and Sting, became an expensive failure for both director and studio.

"Dune" was reborn in 2000, as a three-part, six-hour miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel, with a cast including William Hurt.

Third time's a charm? Herbert's 1969 novel is coming back to the big screen, with a film adaptation helmed by French director Pierre Morel, responsible for violent blockbuster Taken.

The screenplay reportedly is by rookie Joshua Zetumer, who contributed to the Quantum of Solace script. Peter Berg (Hancock), who was said to have worked on an early version of the new screenplay, was originally set to direct.

In October, FilmShaft reported that "New Moon" teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson was being considered for the lead role in the new "Dune."

For more about other, failed attempts to adapt "Dune," including a once planned 10-hour miniseries with Orson Welles and others, check out Ben Child's story in the Guardian (UK).

Remake of Swedish Vampire Classic: Will Reeves Let the Wrong One In?

2010-01-05T13:48:00.008-05:00

A recent vampire classic from Europe based on a popular novel is being subjected to a Hollywood makeover. So will it, uh, suck?

Let Me In, Cloverfield director Matt Reeves' adaptation of Let the Right One In, the Swedish shocker released in the U.S. in late 2008, is slated for release this fall.

The original movie, detailing the relationship between a bloodthirsty vampire taking the form of a 12-year-old girl, and a bullied boy of the same age, counts as the best horror film of the decade, and one of the creepiest and most chilling movies I've ever seen; its penultimate sequence struck me as deeply disturbing.

Director Tomas Alfredson, working from a script which John Ajvide Lindqvist adapted from his novel, makes great use of the snowy environs, in and around the generic apartments and stores of suburban Stockholm. For those brave enough to venture even farther into the world created by Alfredson and Lindqvist, I'd recommend the book -- it's twice as explicit, graphic, kinky, and frightening.

It seems impossible that Let Me In won't be disappointing, given the brilliance of the original.

But there are several good signs, including the casting of Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) as the young boy, whose name is now Owen, rather than Oskar. The cast also includes Chloe Moretz, of (500) Days of Summer, as young vampire Abby (formerly Eli), the great Richard Jenkins as Abby's aged caretaker, and Elias Koteas.

Why did Reeves go for the remake, particularly so soon after the release of an original that was so well received?

Because of how it resonated with his own feelings about the yearnings and fears associated with adolescence, as he told the Los Angeles Times back in June.

"I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction," he said. "It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror.

"There's definitely people who have a real bull's-eye on the film," Reeves said, "and I can understand because of people's' love of the [original] film that there's this cynicism that I'll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I'm so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons, my feeling about it is if I didn't feel a personal connection and feel it could be its own film, I wouldn't be doing it. I hope people give us a chance."

Let Me In is set in Colorado during the '80s, according to the L.A. Times. And it was shot in New Mexico, reports web site Cinematical.

Bad Movies Clogging Up the Multiplex? It's Not Just Your Imagination

2010-01-04T14:20:00.007-05:00

Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. And thanks to the year-end push for critical favorites, there's a good chance a film as smart and funny as Up in the Air can be found on multiple screens in your neighborhood, at least for a couple more weeks.

But for those wondering why awful flicks like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Watchmen and G.I. Joe and The Ugly Truth so frequently squeeze worthwhile movies out of the multiplexes, here's a stat I just came across, from NY Times critic Manohla Dargis's round-up of the 2009 movie year.

"The question of consumer choice becomes all but moot when the Top 5 box office movies are playing on more than one-quarter of all the screens in America, as was the case during the first weekend of May, when “Star Trek” opened. That weekend 10 movies dominated 67 percent of the country’s screens. Three of those titles were released by Paramount. Warner Brothers and Disney had two movies each; 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and the independent company Summit Entertainment each had one."

As Dargis points out, when the mega-budget, over-promoted movies are released, they hog practically all of the space available for movies: Revenge of the Fallen opened simultaneously on 4,000 screens in the U.S., and Angels & Demons opened simultaneously on 3,500 screens.

So, the upshot: More big screens for fewer movies made by fewer companies. That's the wrong kind of math, I think.

One obvious benefit to movie companies and distributors of so quickly spreading bad movies so far and so wide is that it makes those films even less immune to the slings and arrows of film critics, a group whose size and power seems to be diminishing by the day.

There are alternatives, of course, like tuning in to the Independent Film Channel (IFC) or the Sundance Channel, and pay-per-view, if you have cable; and keeping up with Netflix and pay-per-view offerings. I could always upgrade from my 32-inch flat screen to something gargantuan (if/when I have the funds).

But it's hardly the same thing as having access to first-rate films on a big screen, with good sound, in a theater, surrounded by other filmgoers.

Bonus overtime comment from Dargis, on Paramount Pictures' very good 2009: "Two of the year’s biggest hits, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” have helped the studio climb out of its financial hole with a combined domestic take of more than $500 million. Both movies are deeply stupid, often incoherent and hinged on the principle that the spectacle of violence is its own pleasurable end. “Transformers” is also casually racist. But hey, that’s entertainment."

2009's Fallen: The Musicians

2010-01-02T20:24:00.003-05:00

R.I.P., guitarist Les Paul, drummer Louie Bellson, saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, singers Koko Taylor and Chris Connor, Ali Akbar Khan, Michael Jackson and too many more great musicians who passed away in 2009.

NPR Music remembers, with short tributes and audio clips.

The Best Jazz Discs of 2009

2009-12-30T23:55:00.006-05:00

Jazz in 2009 meant the continuing dismantling and irrelevance of major-label homes for the music; the growth of vital indie jazz labels; the decision of many artists, including major jazzers, to take charge of recording, packaging and distributing their own work; and the emergence of a variety of strong new voices in jazz.

Gloomsaying to the contrary, jazz is in very good shape, at least on the recording front. Now, about places for all those artists -- and younger players, graduating in droves from still-proliferating college jazz programs -- to play ....

As promised, here are links to my list of 2009's best jazz discs, as published in the Village Voice, the Voice's complete jazz poll results, and Voice critic Francis Davis's overview of the year in jazz recordings.

My own list of the year's best jazz recordings, with one-line descriptions, as published in Las Vegas City Life (but slightly expanded here):

Allen Toussaint, The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch) - The old-school R&B hitmaker digs deep into jazz roots, applying elegant piano to New Orleans chestnuts and pieces by Monk and Ellington.

Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge, The Comet's Tail: Performing the Compositions of Michael Brecker (MAMA) - The Florida-based big band revisits and reinvents the music of late saxophone great Brecker.

David Binney, Third Occasion (Mythology) - The underappreciated alto saxophonist offers ambitious, expansive originals, with his quartet joined by brass.

Tom Harrell, Prana Dance (Highnote) - The trumpeter leads his tight-knit quintet on compositions that are brainy yet emotionally engaging.

Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio, Reflections (Wommusic) - The most gifted jazz guitarist under 40 takes a break from his edgy originals for brilliant, shimmering readings of standards by the likes of Monk and Wayne Shorter.

John Patitucci Trio, Remembrance (Concord) - The bassist's heavyweight pianoless trio, with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Brian Blade, bring piercing original compositions replete with surprising detours.

Fly, Sky and Country (ECM) - Saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard turn in fertile modern-jazz explorations.

Joel Harrison, Urban Myths (Highnote) - The guitarist again draws from fusion, funk and blues for smart, multi-textured jazz originals.

John Scofield, Piety Street (EmArcy) - Sco wields his tangy overdriven guitar for hard-grooving gospel pieces, driven by Meters bassist George Porter, Jr.

New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Slither Slice (Threadhead) - The veteran brass band returns with horns chewy enough and funk deep enough to blast the competition.

Vocals: Roberta Gambarini, So in Love (Emarcy) & Gretchen Parlato, In a Dream (Obliqsound) & Tierney Sutton, Desire (Telarc)

Debut: Gerald Clayton, Two-Shade (ArtistShare) & Michael Janisch, Purpose Built (Whirlwind)

Latin: Arturo O'Farrill, Risa Negra (Zoho) & Dafnis Prieto, Live at Jazz Standard NYC (Dafnison Music) & Omar Sosa, Across the Divide (Half Note)

Reissues: Scott LaFaro, Pieces of Jade (Resonance) & Medeski Martin & Wood, Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set (Indirecto) & Eddie Harris and Ellis Marsalis, Homecoming (ELM).

And 10 more of the year's best jazz recordings:
Vijay Iyer, Historicity (ACT)
Joe Lovano, Folk Art (Blue Note)
Joshua Redman, Compass (Nonesuch)
Gary Burton-Pat Metheny-Steve Swallow-Antonio Sanchez, Quartet Live (Concord)
Gary Peacock-Marc Copland, Insight (Pirouet)
The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis, For All I Care (Heads Up)
Robert Glasper, Double Booked (Blue Note)
Cedar Walton, Voices Deep Within (High Note)
Christian McBride, Kind of Brown (Mack Avenue)
James Carter-John Medeski-Christian McBride-Adam Rogers, Heaven on Earth (Half Note)

Vijay Iyer Trio Tops Village Voice 2009 Jazz Poll

2009-12-28T21:52:00.002-05:00

Acclaimed pianist Vijay Iyer's Historicity, a forward-thinking trio outing, has been named Album of the Year in the 4th annual Village Voice Critics poll.

I reviewed the CD earlier this year for Down Beat. Here's what I wrote: "A kind of dialogue -- ever in flux, constantly probing, frequently morphing, informed by disparate traditions but pushing toward new paradigms -- is at the heart of the performances on pianist Vijay Iyer's trio outing with bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore. In the liner notes, Iyer describes that dialogue, on the cover tunes, as 'a conversation between the original work and something else entirely.' But there are also conversations here between form and freedom, light and dark tonalities, and, as the title suggests, jazz history and future jazz."

Also among the winners in the poll, surveying the best jazz releases of the year, as chosen by 99 jazz critics from around the world (including me) are the following:

Vocal: Gretchen Parlato, In a Dream (ObliqSound)
Debut: Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)
Latin: Miguel Zenon, Esta Plena (Marsalis Music)
Reissue: Louis Armstrong, The Complete Decca Recordings, 1935-1946 (Mosaic)

Full poll results will be published in the Voice's Dec. 30 issue, and will be available online as early as Tuesday night. I'll follow up with a subsequent post, and include links to the results along with a link to my list.

Happy 40th Birthday to ECM Records

2009-12-26T14:56:00.002-05:00

Has it really been four decades since German bassist and jazz LP collector Manfred Eicher (photo, above) launched the ECM label with pianist Mal Waldron's album Free at Last?

Yes, believe it or not, in 2009 ECM is celebrating its 40th anniversary. In a New York Times piece published earlier this week, Steve Smith writes about the origins and legacy of the noted classical and jazz label, home to pianist Keith Jarrett's great Standards Trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, among many other artists.

Writes Smith, " 'A music producer, as I understand it, should be a trained musician in order to work with musicians, the psychological aspects,' he (Eicher) said. 'To be in front of the microphone, alert to things, and be able to talk about intonation, phrasing and musical structure is very helpful. If you are a musician changing from one side of the microphone to the other side, to the control room, you’re a good listener, a patient listener.' "

Read the rest of the piece here.

Christmas Music: Jazz and More

2009-12-24T09:35:00.005-05:00

There haven't exactly been sleighfuls of great Christmas music released this season, although Bob Dylan's holiday album has to count as the most surprising holiday oddity of this season or many others.

Several yuletide recordings, though, have risen to the top, including the following:

The Putumayo folks have again applied their big ears to a search for eclectic holiday music, and they've come up with another keeper, A Family Christmas. As per Putumayo tradition, the sources are diverse and the music generally falls into the category of rootsy/earthy. Highlights: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's sassy, swinging "Is Zat You Santa Claus?," Leon Redbone's sly, laidback "Let It Know," Brave Combo's polka-hopping "Jolly Old St. Nick" and the bluesy "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus," from The Christmas Jug Band featuring Angela Strehli and Maria Muldaur. Sample here.

Threadhead Records, the fan-funded label created by devotees of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, this year offered its first yuletide collection, A Very Threadhead Holiday. It's a uniformly terrific collection of originals and classics. Picks: Bonerama leader Craig Klein's "Christmas On My Mind," a Fats-style brassy gem; Debbie Davis's ukelele-driven version of '50s-vintage "Hanging Up My Stockings"; Matt Perrine's tuba choir on "Carol of the Bells"; John Boutte's romantic, soulful "Holding You This Christmas"; trumpeter Shamarr Allen's trad-jazz "Santa Passed My House Up"; and Alex McMurray's bluesy, boozy "Santa, Let Me Call You a Cab." It's a real collaboration, as these dozen tracks feature much mixing and matching of great NOLA talent. Downloads here.

Trio West takes a second trip to the Christmas stocking with Plays Holiday Songs, Vol. 2 (Yummyhouse Records), another set of tightly constructed familiarities played by pianist Eldad Zvulun, bassist Neal Miner, and drummer Tobias Gebb (who arranged the tunes and produced the session). The three turn in a funk-edged "O Tannenbaum," a samba version of "Silent Night" and a gently grooving "We Three Kings Waltz." The group clearly was aiming for breezy get-in-and-out-of-the-tune brevity, but it would have been nice to hear these simpatico players stretch out more. Downloads here.

Jazzy Brass for the Holidays (DBCD) is halfway brass choir, halfway straight-ahead jazz, with pleasant arrangements of seasonal chestnuts played by an all-star group frontloaded with brass -- trumpeters Eddie Allen and Cecil Bridgewater, trombonist Clark Gayton, and W. Marshall Sealy on French horn (yes, he improvises, too). Latin jazz is in the mix, with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and it's all driven by a pianoless rhythm section, with bassist Kenny Davis and Carl Allen on drums and glockenspiel.

Christmas Tune of the Day: Sharon Jones' "Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects"

2009-12-23T17:44:00.003-05:00

I'm cranking up the soulful vocals, old-school R&B groove, and popping horns of "Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects," from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - one of the highlights of this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Listen here (thanks to NPR).

Florida Critics Honor "Up in the Air"

2009-12-21T13:18:00.003-05:00

Jason Reitman's comic drama Up in the Air has landed top honors in this year's Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC) Awards, with prizes for best picture, Reitman's direction and George Clooney's performance as a corporate axeman.

Precious, the FFCC's other big winner, a disturbing inner-city drama directed by Lee Daniels, won two top acting honors -- Gabourey Sidibe, best actress, and the group's Pauline Kael Breakout Award, in the title role; and hip-hop star and TV personality Mo'Nique, for best supporting actress.

The complete list of winners:

Picture: Up In The Air
Actor: George Clooney, Up In The Air
Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Supp. Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Supp. Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious
Director: Jason Reitman, Up In The Air
Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Cinematography: Mauro Fiore, Avatar
Foreign Language: Sin Nombre
Animated Feature: Up
Documentary: The Cove
Breakout: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Golden Orange: No Award

Founded in 1996, the Florida Film Critics Circle is comprised of 17 writers from state publications. Dan Hudak of hudakonhollywood.com has served as chairman since March 2008. For more information on the FFCC, visit floridafilmcriticscircle.webs.com.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: New CD and National Tour in 2010

2009-12-18T15:54:00.006-05:00

Aside from a decade or so when big bands were all the rage, keeping a large jazz ensemble in top playing shape, ensuring that the group has the right players for the right positions, matching the band with the appropriate arrangements, and dealing with all the logistical and organizational challenges has always been an iffy proposition.

Taking a big band on the road and/or taking care of all the detail work required to record, package and properly distribute a big band CD can be even more challenging, particularly in a financial contraction as profound as the one we're now facing.

The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, nevertheless has plans to hit all of those targets in 2010 (yes, it's true that federal funding helps keep J@LC alive, and I'm glad of it, no matter what John McCain or anyone else has to say about it).

First up is Portrait in Seven Shades, the JLCO's first widely distributed studio CD since Don't Be Afraid: The Music of Charles Mingus (Palmetto), released in 2005.

Due Feb. 2, 2010, the recording features saxophonist Ted Nash's titular suite, with seven movements, each inspired by the work of a modern art master -- Chagall, Dali, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Pollack, and Van Gogh.

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, on tuba, violinist Nathalie Bonin, and accordionist Bill Schimmel will make guest appearances on the recording, the group's first to be distributed by The Orchard.

Next up are the debut performances of the concert, with the orchestra joined by Bonin, Schimmel, and Clark Gayton on tuba, Feb. 4-6 at JALC's Rose Hall. The music will be augmented by lighting design and projections of the CD's artwork.

Finally, the JLCO gets back on the road, with a U.S. tour slated to open March 1 in Washington, D.C., and close with a performance March 29 at Lee Hall on the FAMU campus in Tallahassee, the closest this particular tour gets to my area.

Music from the new CD and compositions by Count Basie and Mary Lou Williams, among other artists, will be included in the repertoire for the touring show.

Last time I caught Wynton and the LCJO was at this year's Jazz Fest, when they performed the "Congo Square" suite, with guest African drummers, on the Congo Square stage. It was a texture-rich, sometimes moving (if overlong) exploration of jazz's roots in African rhythms, and the music's development in New Orleans and beyond. The concert pic, above, is one I shot at that performance.

U.S. House Salutes Miles and Honors Jazz; Will Words = Action?

2009-12-16T22:24:00.003-05:00

Get Miles?

The U.S. House of Representatives apparently does (or is striking the right pose), and hopes that you do, too.

By a vote of 409-0, the House on Tuesday approved the passage of H.Res.894, which honors the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis's classic Kind of Blue album and calls jazz "a national treasure."

Yes, it's never too late to salute the modal masterpiece, which has Miles' moody trumpet topping textures supplied by pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. A two-disc Legacy edition of the album, with alternate takes and an extended live version of "So What," was released in January.

In the "whereas" prelude, remarkably enough, the resolution points out that the album was certified quadruple-platinum (4 million copies sold) last year by the RIAA; that it was recognized as the best-selling recording in jazz history; and that it "continues to be the standard masterpiece of jazz for American musicians and audiences."

Nicely stated, and mostly true.

Here's what the resolution does:
(1) honors the 50th anniversary of `Kind of Blue’ and recognizes the unique contribution the album has made to American jazz;
(2) directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit enrolled copies of this resolution to Columbia Records;
(3) encourages the United States Government to take all appropriate steps to preserve and advance the art form of jazz music;
(4) recommits itself to ensuring that musical artists such as Miles Davis and his Sextet receive fair protection under the copyright laws of the United States for their contributions to culture in the United States; and
(5) reaffirms the status of jazz as a national treasure.

The resolution was sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat, who said Miles' group "made musical history and changed the artistic landscape of this country and in some ways the world."

As Seattle trumpeter Jason Parker suggests on his One Working Musician blog, it's great when important people say nice things about jazz. But lip service ain't enough.

Parker offers several good strategies to help the House -- and oh yeah, where's the Senate? -- turn words into action, including getting more of that governmental arts funding directly into the hands of local arts organizations, and making sure that jazz isn't left out of the mix when it comes to arts funding.

How else can jazz lovers with power and/or deep pockets help honor jazz? Here's one way: Launch an organization, with an affiliated international conference, that's as large and influential as the International Association for Jazz Education once was.

The IAJE, previously known as the International Association of Jazz Educators, served as a global clearing house and common ground for jazz educators, musicians, recording labels, radio people, critics, managers and practically everyone else with a stake in the future of jazz. And then, a couple of years ago, the organization imploded over fiscal irregularities, to say the least.

It's time for the rise of another jazz organization as ambitious and jazz-connected as the IAJE. And maybe Conyers' resolution will give that cause just the boost it needs.

Tampa Bay Area Music Calendar (An Entirely Subjective and Selective Listing)

2009-12-16T07:55:00.013-05:00

Parameters for this list: All the shows I'd want to see, given all the $$ and, mostly, time, in the world. Feel free to send concert info, but please understand that this list is not intended to be comprehensive. Got corrections/updates? Send them.

Trombone Shorty (photo, above) w/ Elliott Cohn's Cosmic Sweat Society - Saturday, Jan 9, Skipper's, 8 p.m.

Zach Deputy w/ Rob Anthony - Sunday, Jan. 10, Skipper's, 5 p.m.

James Gibbs III/Jordan Richardson Quintet - Jan. 15, Mahaffey Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Marcia Ball w/ The Venturas - Jan. 17, Skipper's, 6 p.m.

Statesmen of Jazz: Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar), Bob Wilber (clarinet/sax), Rosanno Sportiello (piano), Antii Sarpila (sax), Nicki Parrott (bass), Jeff Barnhart (piano), Ed Metz, Jr. (drums) - Jan. 20, Palladium Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Gov't Mule - Jan. 21, Ritz Theatre, 8:30 p.m.

Subdudes w/ Beth McKee - Jan. 29, Skipper's, 8 p.m.

Big Sam's Funky Nation w/ Rosie Ledet - Jan. 30, Skipper's, 8 p.m.

Boogie Woogie/Blues Piano Stomp: Bob Seeley, Liz Pennock, Ricky Nye, Barry Cuda - Jan. 30, Palladium Theater, 8 p.m.

Ira Sullivan - Jan. 31, HCC Performing Arts Building Theater, Ybor City (details TBA; Tampa Jazz Club show)

B.B. King & Buddy Guy - Feb. 5, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 8 p.m.

Harry Connick Jr. - Feb. 12, Ruth Eckerd Hall

The Wailers - Feb. 12, Ritz Theatre

Yonder Mountain String Band - Feb. 13, The Ritz, 9 p.m.

Whitney James - Feb. 13, Palladium Theater

Willie Nelson - Feb. 14, Busch Gardens

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk w/ The Jim Morey Band - Feb. 21, Skipper's

Dave Alvin & Two Guilty Women w/ Amanda Shires - Feb. 27, Skipper's, 8 p.m.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - March 2, Mahaffey Theater, 7 p.m.

Roy Book Binder - March 5, Palladium Theater, 8 p.m.

Chuck Prophet w/ Peter Mulvey - March 13, Skipper's, 8 p.m.

Zakir Hussain - March 18, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Ferguson Hall, 8 p.m.

Wilco - March 23, Ruth Eckerd Hall

G. Love and Special Sauce - March 26, Ritz Theatre, 9 p.m.

Pat Metheny - April 9, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 8 p.m.

VENUES--------------------------------------------------------

Mahaffey Theater @ Progress Energy Center for the Arts, 400 First St. S., St. Petersburg; (727) 892-5798

New World Brewery, 1313 E. Eighth Ave., Ybor City (Tampa); 813 248-4969

The Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg; 727 822-3590

The Ritz Theatre, 1503 E. Seventh Ave., Ybor City (Tampa); 813 247-2555

Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 N. McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater; 727 791-7400

Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa; (813) 971-0666

Allman Brothers, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, Elvis Costello, Jeff Beck, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, B.B. King Among Headliners at Jazz Fest

2009-12-15T07:49:00.005-05:00

Let the FOMS (fear of missing something) begin.

The lineup for this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was announced early this morning, just after midnight. And the mix of major national pop/rock acts, New Orleans and regional Louisiana acts, and top-shelf jazz and world-music performers is as impressive as ever.

The upshot: Jazz Fest fans, and first-timers, are going to have a tough time deciding which weekend to attend - April 23-25 or April 29-May 2. It's a good problem for the fest to have.

As a likely first-weekender, thanks to the Allman Brothers, I'm particularly excited to see a couple of acts that I had hoped/"predicted" would make it - Levon Helm, the Black Crowes - plus tons more.

Also among those I'm most excited to see first weekend:
Jazz (from New Orleans and elsewhere): Joe Lovano Us Five, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra,, the Guitar Woodshed Featuring Steve Masakowski, Todd Duke, and Jake Eckert
African: King Sunny Ade, Baaba Maal
Reggae: Steel Pulse
Gospel: Blind Boys of Alabama
Funk: George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic
Modern rock: My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses
New Orleans/Louisiana regional: Dr. John, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Papa Grows Funk, Terrance Simien, Bonerama, Theresa Andersson, Big Sam, Davell Crawford and One Foot in the Blues With Dr. John and Jon Cleary, Funky Meters, Voice of the Wetlands, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Davell Crawford, Irma Thomas' Tribute to Mahalia Jackson.
Not to mention the act TBA: Great if Paul McCartney or Tom Petty, big so-what (IMHO) if Buffett.

Second weekend's notables:
Jazz (from New Orleans and elsewhere): Wayne Shorter Quartet, Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Stanley Clarke Band, Astral Project, Ellis Marsalis, Henry Butler, Marcus Miller, Shannon Powell's Organ Combo Featuring David Torkanowsky and Charlie Gabriel, Gil Scott Heron, Take Six
Classic rock/modern rock: Pearl Jam, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes
Jamband: Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler
Blues: Derek Truck & Susan Tedeschi, B.B. King, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bernard Allison
World music: Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, Kora Konnection Featuring Morikeba Kouyate of Senegal and Theirno Doubate of Guinea
New Orleans and Louisiana regional: Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint,Galactic, the Radiators, Trombone Shorty, Kermit Ruffins, Beausoleil, Beausoleil, the Iguanas, Russell Batiste, Kirk Joseph, Paul Sanchez, Rebirth Brass Band, Anders Osborne, Cyril Neville, Aaron Neville, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
Other: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Richie Havens

One quibble: "Jazz" is part of the festival's first name, so to speak. And despite the number of great jazz acts from New Orleans, the list of world-class jazzers from elsewhere is shorter than in previous years.

For the full lineup for each weekend, go to the Jazz Fest site. The "cubes" - day-by-day, hour-by-hour schedule - are due in January or February.

Jazz Fest 2010 Lineup Announcement: Tonight after Midnight (Central Time)

2009-12-14T16:00:00.004-05:00

Can't wait until tomorrow to check out the talent headed to the Crescent City for next year's 41st annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival?

The list of artists playing each weekend at the fest, April 23-25 and April 29-May 4, will be available tonight just after midnight, New Orleans time (1 a.m. EST) at the online companion site to Offbeat, the great monthly NOLA music magazine. So when the time comes, click here.

Here's Offbeat's note about its plans for unveiling the lineup.

For the list of artists rumored - or definitely scheduled - to play Jazz Fest, check out my post from last week.

Up in the Air Tops Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards

2009-12-14T15:18:00.007-05:00

Up in the Air, Jason Reitman's alternately funny and surprisingly touching comic drama about the misadventures of a corporate axe man, was named best picture of the year in the 18th Annual Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards.

The film also scored awards for George Clooney, for best actor, and Reitman and Sheldon Turner, for their adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel.

Kathryn Bigelow was named best director for her work on the intense and disturbing The Hurt Locker, set in wartime Iraq.

The other major acting awards went to Meryl Streep (best actress), who portrayed celebrated cook Julia Child in Julie & Julia; Christoph Waltz (best supporting actor) as a frighteningly sly SS officer in Inglourious Basterds; and hip-hop star Mo'Nique, as an emotionally abusive mother from hell in Precious.

The funny and romantic (500) Days of Summer won for best original screenplay, for a script co-written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, while Pixar's Up barely edged out Wes Anderson's stop-motion gem Fantastic Mr. Fox for best animated feature.

Food, Inc. won for best documentary. Writer-director Scott Teems’ That Evening Sun, featuring Hal Halbrook's sterling portrayal of an aging, bitter Tennessee farmer facing the loss of his home, won the Wyatt Award for the most outstanding Southern-themed film.

I was one of the 44 critics who participated in this year's voting, and I'm happy to report that so many of my favorites -- including The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, and many of the below mentioned films -- landed in the Top 10 or otherwise gained attention.

BEST PICTURE
1. Up in the Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Up
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. A Serious Man
6. (500) Days of Summer
7. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
8. The Messenger
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. District 9

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – Up in the Air
* Runner-up: Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
* Runner-up: Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by
Sapphire

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
* Runner-up: Woody Harrelson – The Messenger

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
* Runner-up: Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
* Runner-up: Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer
* Runner-up: Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air
* Runner-up: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Summer Hours (France)
* Runner-up: The White Ribbon (Germany)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Food, Inc.
* Runner-up: The Cove

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up
* Runner-up: Fantastic Mr. Fox

WYATT AWARD
That Evening Sun
* Runner-up: Goodbye Solo

The Southeastern Film Critics Association is comprised of journalists
from nine states in the Southeast.

TubaChristmas Drops Anchor at The Pier in St. Petersburg

2009-12-11T10:45:00.004-05:00

The tubas are coming!

As many as 50 tuba players, including professionals, students and hobbyists from around the Tampa Bay area, are descending on The Pier in St. Petersburg for Saturday night's TubaChristmas.

David Manson, trombonist/composer and St. Petersburg College music prof, will conduct the low-brass players on "The First Noel," "The Wassail Song," "Deck the Halls" and other Christmas favorites, arranged by Alec Wilder and Norlan Bewley.

St. Pete's concert, coordinated by Lisa-Marie Leihy, is one of nearly 250 TubaChristmas events around the world, Manson says.

"The event began in 1974 and continues as a tribute to William Bell, the great father of tuba who was born on Christmas Day in 1902," he says. "This year, 248 cities are participating."

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Waterside Courtyard at The Pier, (under a canopy) 800 Second Ave., N.E., in St. Petersburg. Admission is free.

Click here for more info on the worldwide TubaChristmas concerts. St. Petersburg's concert is reportedly one of six TubaChristmas events this year in Florida.

Weirdest Jazz Story of the Year: Spain's (Sort of) Jazz Police Investigate Saxophonist Larry Ochs

2009-12-11T09:19:00.010-05:00

Kenny G wields his chirpy soprano sax for bland instrumental pop, markets it as jazz, makes a mint, and nobody bats an eye. Aside from, you know, curmudgeonly music critics (like me).

So it's odd, and more than a little amusing, to hear that Larry Ochs, the first-rate, highly creative saxophonist was hassled in Spain on Monday night by a festivalgoer who contended that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core erred on the side of being too contemporary, and not adequately jazzy.

According to a story in the UK's Guardian newspaper, Spanish police raided the Siguenza Jazz Festival after a concertgoer complained about Ochs' music.

Where are the Jazz Police when you really need them? They'd really come in handy when a certain local festival turns over all its headlining positions to boring "smooth jazz" acts. I'd welcome the Jazz Police to help keep incessant talkers and noisemakers from rudely ruining my enjoyment of concerts.

And maybe pianist Keith Jarrett would cease his godawful audible humming -- which sometimes spoils otherwise brilliant solo and trio performances -- if there were a chance that the Jazz Police would intervene.

By the way, Ochs' group played the EMIT series at St. Petersburg's Dali Museum on Oct. 10. Thanks to EMIT director and trombonist/bandleader David Manson for reminding me.

For more info on the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core, click here. Listen to the group's tune "And Nothing But" here.

The full text of the story is below:

Spanish fan calls police over saxophone band who were just not jazzy enough

Festival-goer claims it was 'psychologically inadvisable' for him to hear Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core perform

Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him.

That changed on Monday night however, when's Spain's pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs's music was not, well, jazz.

Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music.

The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was "psychologically inadvisable" for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case.

His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.

"The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back," said the festival director, Ricardo Checa.

"He didn't get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme.

He added: "The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.

"Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned."

"I thought I had seen it all," Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. "I was obviously mistaken."

"After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren," the California-based saxophonist added.

The Garden in St. Pete is NOT closing

2009-12-10T17:46:00.003-05:00

Great news: It looks like the longest-running jazz gig in the Tampa Bay area is going to keep on keeping on.

The Garden, in downtown St. Petersburg, is changing hands but staying open, and ex-Ellington trombonist Buster Cooper is keeping his gig. That's according to Laura Reiley's story in the St. Petersburg Times. Click here to read.

The new owners, according to the story: Bill Edwards and brothers Tommy and Vagelis Varlas. Reiley writes, "Edwards is also partner with Jannus Landing's new minority owner, Jeff Knight; the Varlas brothers have been in the restaurant business for many years, most recently in St. Pete Beach."

Tommy Varlas told Reiley about several planned upgrades to the eatery, located in a building dating back to 1890: "Effective immediately, we're putting money into it, giving it a facelift with new lighting and updated bathrooms."

Thanks to blog reader Headless Hornman -- also a fellow chatter on the (New Orleans) Jazz Fest board -- for pointing it out.

Up in the Air: Best Film of the Year? (movie review)

2009-12-10T11:41:00.006-05:00

Up in the Air, a terrific and timely comedy directed by Jason Reitman, has opened in several cities nationally, and will open soon in the Tampa Bay area (the 12/11 opening has been bumped). My review will be published in Folio Weekly, and I'll link to it here. Meanwhile, here's the full text.

Up in the Air Stars George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick. Directed and written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, adapted from the Walter Kirn novel. 109 minutes; rated R.

Anyone ever fired, thereby joining a club whose membership has lately expanded at an alarming rate, understands that losing a job is a bit like experiencing a death. In one fell swoop, you're suddenly separated from the people, the place and the professional obligations you've come to know so intimately for months or years or decades, not to mention the income that has supported your way of life.

That reality takes center stage, thanks to a series of interviews with real-life laid-off workers mixed in with cameos by such actors as Zach Galifianakis and J.K. Simmons, in Up in the Air, filmmaker Jason Reitman's follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed Juno. "This is what I get in return for 30 years of service?" one man asks, in disbelief.

Those montages make for humane, poignant touches, adding to the topical currency of a movie that's as funny, smart and sexy as any American film released this year. No matter if the ending is a little pat, and viewers are left feeling somewhat less than emotionally engaged by any of the characters in Reitman's script, adapted from the Walter Kirn novel of the same name.

The angel of career death, regularly descending from the unfriendly skies to drop the axe, is Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), road warrior for a company whose employees do the dirty work for clients unwilling to handle the nasty chore of firing employees. The movie's opening sequence, all split screens and overhead shots of cities and farmland, deserts and mountains, charged up with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' soulful, hard-grooving R&B version of "This Land is Your Land," defines the protagonist's territory.

Delivering the bad news -- "You have an opportunity here, Bob. This is a rebirth," he tells the just-fired aging worker played by Simmons -- the coolly efficient, smooth-talking Bingham is bad, and nationwide: He flies to Dallas, St. Louis, Wichita, Kansas City, Des Moines, Detroit and all points between, occasionally touching down in Omaha to visit the home office of the optimistically named Career Transition Counseling. In voiceover, he says that last year he spent 322 days on planes and in Hilton hotels, rental cars and airport bars, and the worst part of it all was those 43 days he was stuck at home.

Bingham's itinerant lifestyle is threatened by the arrival of young go-getter Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), who convinces their CTC boss (Jason Bateman) to agree to a new scheme, a plan allowing the company to accomplish the firings via video link, thereby cutting the travel budget by 85 percent.

But prior to the launch of the new system, Bingham is asked to take his young colleague on a road trek to experience the firings first-hand. At the very least, he figures he'll keep moving toward his goal of notching 10 million air miles.

When Bingham isn't bickering with Natalie or working toward a grudging respect for her, he's spending his emotional and sexual energy on leggy, attractive Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a female road warrior who knows and loves the language of elite-status cards.

The two meet cute in a hotel lounge, weave sexual double entendres into a discussion of frequent-flier miles, and continue to let the flirtation heat up in his room. Later, she sets relationship ground rules: "I am the woman you don't have to worry about," says Alex, who comes off as the perfect match for a man who does seminars on avoiding personal commitments. "Sounds like a trap," he retorts.

Like its lead character, who likes to say "the slower we move, the faster we die," Up in the Air moves at a brisk clip, seamlessly jumping from scene to scene, slowing down only during a section set in Wisconsin, where Bingham travels to attend his younger sister's wedding.

Emotional breakthroughs play a part here but, as might be expected from the director of Juno and Thank You for Smoking, the storyline moves in some entirely unpredictable directions.

Anyone counting on a straight-out romantic comedy, as some of the movie's ads have suggested, will be disappointed. The rest of us will leave satisfied by the vibrant performances, intelligent script and sure direction of a film with few noticeable flaws and plenty of sour-sweet appeal.

Allmans, Joe Lovano, Baaba Maal, Stanley Clarke to Play New Orleans Jazz Fest?

2009-12-09T16:06:00.007-05:00

UPDATE (12/11): Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball were just added to the list. I'll keep adding names as the info/rumors roll in.

It's looking like saxophone great Joe Lovano, bass god Stanley Clarke, world music star Baaba Maal, and enduring Southern jam-rockers the Allman Brothers will play next year's Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, slated for April 23 through May 2.

That's in addition to all the great New Orleans talent -- so far, including the Radiators, Galactic, Paul Sanchez, the subdudes, Steve Riley, and Russell Batiste.

Those are among the facts and rumors I've been seeing online, at Pollstar and on the Jazz Fest's chat board.

The official announcement is coming very soon - UPDATE: probably sometimes between now and Tuesday. Meanwhile, here's a very tentative day-by-day schedule.

The Allmans reportedly will play "in April," which could mean first weekend OR second weekend.

Fri 04/23/10
Baaba Maal
Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys
Joe Lovano
Elvin Bishop
Spencer Bohren
NEW: Irma Thomas

Sun 04/25/10
Radiators
Grayson Capps
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Darius Rucker
NEW: Marcia Ball
Thurs 04/29
Average White Band
Blues Traveler
Paul Sanchez
Susan Cowsill
Dala

Fri 04/30/10
Jose Feliciano
Subdudes
Stanley Clarke
Steve Riley

Sat 05/01/10
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Russell Batiste and Friends
Ernie Vincent
NEW: Irma Thomas

Sun 05/02/10
Galactic
Radiators
Monk Ensemble
Richie Havens
Margie Perez
Some Like It Hot Band

Say Adieu to the Tampa Bay Area's Longest-Running Jazz Gig

2009-12-08T15:24:00.004-05:00

The Garden Restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg, just around the corner from Jannus Landing, is closing this Sunday.

And with it goes the longest-running jazz gig in the Tampa Bay area, held down by ex-Ellington trombonist Buster Cooper.

That's sad news, in a region where jazz gets precious little support, from performing arts halls or nightclubs. The bright side: Cooper will continue leading a band on Friday and Saturday nights, this time at Jo-Jo's, across the street from the Garden.

For the lowdown on the shutdown, and a look back at Buster's career (along with a video clip), check out Luis Perez's story in today's St. Petersburg Times.

Galactic: New CD Due in February

2009-12-08T13:00:00.007-05:00

I'm still trying to decide how much love to give to "Dark Water," the first single from Galactic's forthcoming album ya-ka-may, due Feb. 9 on the Anti- label.

The New Orleans funksters are joined by great hometown soul singer John Boutte on the track, which opens with synthetic-sounding drums (Stanton Moore + programming?), deep-reverb bass and cello licks before all drop out, wah/overdriven guitar drops back in and the rhythm starts chugging forward. Next: bluesy six-string scorch, start-stops, vocal stacks and more.

Click here to download the track.

Galactic's latest, their second on Anti-, is another collaboration, and the guest list is impressive: Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, the Rebirth Brass Band and emerging underground bounce artists Cheeky Blakk, Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby.

"It's based on very specific beats that the rappers rap over," Moore told Billboard about the tracks built on bounce, essentially New Orleans-bred hip-hop. "We've taken some rappers that work within the bounce genre and then we've done something differently. We haven't even created bounce music with them. It's our own interpretation, creating something that's new."

For more of the Billboard story, click here.

The band's tour in support of the CD officially kicks off Feb. 3 in Boston. But Stanton and the boys are coming to my neck of the woods - Florida - in early January, following their New Year's Eve show at Tipitina's.

Anti-, by the way, is having a very good year, with stellar 09 releases from Tom Waits, The Swell Season, Joe Henry, Bettye LaVette and - not least - Booker T. Jones, whose Grammy-nominated Potato Hole features back-up by the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young.

Jaco Tribute/David Via Fundraiser + December Jazz Shows (Tampa Bay area)

2009-12-04T13:29:00.008-05:00

The late great jazz bassist and composer Jaco Pastorius gets a little more love this Sunday by way of a tribute show at Musicology in Clearwater.

The show doubles as a benefit, to fund medical expenses for Tampa Bay area jazz drummer David Via. David, a drummer with exquisite timing, taste and an impeccable swing feel, has played with umpteen groups (including my old band, Greenwich Blue). He has also taught dozens of students at the Players School of Music, Musicology, and USF.

Slated to play:

Tim George w/ Butch Thomas, "Invitation"
Kenny Walker, "Bright Size Life"
Sam Martinez w/ Butch Thomas, "Havona" and "Palladium"
Elias Tona, "Three Views of a Secret" and "Used To Be a Cha-Cha"
Angel Vicens, "A Remark You Made" and "Elegant People"
Kevin Williams, "The Chicken"

Pastorius, who died in 1987 after being brutally attacked by a nightclub bouncer in Fort Lauderdale, would have turned 58 on Dec. 1.

The show starts at 5 p.m. at the venue/school, located at 2576 Sunset Point Road. Admission is $7. for more information, call (813) 817-8382.

-----------

Also of interest to Tampa Bay area jazz fans this month:

Saturday, Dec. 5 - Nate Najar Trio holiday show, with the guitarist joined by special guests. Palladium, Theater, 23 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 8 p.m.; $25; (727)822-3590.

Monday, Dec. 7 - Jingle Jam (December jazz jam session), presented by the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association. Chappy's Louisiana Kitchen, 247 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; 8 to 10 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 8 - Herb Snitzer: Jazz Memories, a talk and photo presentation led by the noted jazz photographer whose work captured many of the music's greats of the '50s and '60s, including Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. Palladium, noon; $12, $10 for seniors.

Thursday, Dec. 10 - Side Door Jazz: Stan Hunter Quartet, led by the pianist/organist. Palladium, 7:30 p.m.; $18 advance, $20 at the door.

Friday, Dec. 11 - Jazz on the River music festival, at the former Armature Building/Old Trolley Barn at The Heights, 1910 N. Ola Ave., Tampa; 5 to 8:30 p.m.

"Up in the Air" Named Best Picture by National Board of Review

2009-12-04T11:36:00.003-05:00

I caught the screening of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air last night.

Here's what I wrote on Twitter (http://twitter/com/jphilipbooth): " "Up in the Air" - smart, funny, sexy, humane. If it doesn't get Oscar noms for writing, acting, directing, best pic,then I'll eat my shorts."

So it's great to hear that the film, starring George Clooney as a committed bachelor and devoted collector of frequent flier miles who fires people for a living, is getting lots of love from critics.

The movie, also starring Vera Farmiga as Clooney's female road-warrior counterpart and Anna Kendrick as a young go-getting employee in Clooney's firm, was just named best picture of the year by the National Board of Review.

It also picked up honors for best actor (Clooney, splitting the prize with Morgan Freeman, for Invictus), supporting actress (Kendrick) and best adapted screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner, whose script was based on Walter Kirn's book).

Several of my other favorite films of 09 were recognized, too, with An Education and (500) Days of Summer on the Top Ten list, The Cove named best documentary, District 9 included on the Top Independent Films list, Carey Mulligan named best actress for An Education, and Gabourey Sidibey getting the award for breakthrough performance by an actress, for her knock-out work in Precious. Wes Anderson deservedly received a Special Filmmaking Achievement award for the funny, clever, visually charming Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Surprises? Yes, how could the NRB fail to include the stunning, emotionally incendiary Precious in its Top Ten list? And, honestly, Kendrick's performance in Up in the Air was more impressive than Mo'Nique's in Precious? Not so sure about that. And no love for funny/sad rock doc Anvil!

The complete list:

Awards for 2009:

Best Film
UP IN THE AIR

Top Ten Films
(In alphabetical order) AN EDUCATION, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, THE HURT LOCKER, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, INVICTUS, THE MESSENGER, A SERIOUS MAN, STAR TREK, UP, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Best Foreign Language Film
A PROPHET

Top Five Foreign Films
(In alphabetical order) THE MAID, REVANCHE, SONG OF SPARROWS, THREE MONKEYS, THE WHITE RIBBON

Best Documentary
THE COVE

Top Five Documentaries
(In alphabetical order) BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY, CRUDE, FOOD, INC., GOOD HAIR, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Top Independent Films
(In alphabetical order) AMREEKA, DISTRICT 9, GOODBYE SOLO, HUMPDAY, IN THE LOOP, JULIA, ME AND ORSON WELLES, MOON, SUGAR, TWO LOVERS

Best Actor
GEORGE CLOONEY, Up In The Air; MORGAN FREEMAN, Invictus

Best Actress
CAREY MULLIGAN, An Education

Best Supporting Actor
WOODY HARRELSON, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress
ANNA KENDRICK, Up In The Air

Best Ensemble Cast
IT'S COMPLICATED

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
JEREMY RENNER, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
GABOUREY SIDIBE, Precious

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut
DUNCAN JONES, Moon; OREN MOVERMAN, The Messenger; MARC WEBB, (500) Days of Summer

Best Director
CLINT EASTWOOD, Invictus

Best Adapted Screenplay
JASON REITMAN and SHELDON TURNER, Up In The Air

Best Original Screenplay
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN, A Serious Man

Best Animated Feature
UP

Special Filmmaking Achievement
WES ANDERSON, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

William K. Everson Award For Film History
JEAN PICKER FIRSTENBERG

Freedom Of Expression
BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY; INVICTUS; THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Rickie Lee Jones, "Balm in Gilead" (Review)

2009-12-04T00:35:00.005-05:00

Rickie Lee Jones first enchanted me way back in the summer of 1979, when "Chuck E.'s in Love," the bouncy biggest single from her Top 3 debut album, was all over pop radio.

I distinctly remember hearing the tune - fresh, jazzy folk-pop, topped by her inimitable voice - blasting from the portable radio in the kitchen at Jimbo's Pit Bar B-Q on Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland. I worked at the restaurant for a while during the summer between high school and my freshman year at UF.

Jones' latest CD is a real charmer. Click here to read my review, as published in Las Vegas City Life. Or read the full text, below.

Rickie Lee Jones
Balm in Gilead
(Fantasy)

Thirty years after her breakthrough, as a decidedly bohemian L.A. singer with a knack for fusing pop, folk and jazz, Rickie Lee Jones still celebrates life as a free spirit, forever young. Except that the "Wild Girl" Jones sings about on the song of the same name is her daughter, turning 21. Mom, 55 and recalling regrets, has advice: "Go out and get some glory."

Glory, not to mention chance taking, are in short supply on Balm in Gilead, Jones' 13th album. True to its title, though, something uniquely soothing -- spiritual, even -- enlivens these 10 tracks. The sonic textures, from the bowed bass and oozing organ of "His Jeweled Floor" to the interlocking guitars, violin, mandolin and Dobro of "Bayless St.," are as gorgeous as any ever created by Jones.

Gospel-blues undergirds "Old Enough," with Ben Harper and R&B horns, and Jones agilely slips into Nashville textures on the waltz-time "Remember Me," with Vic Chesnutt's harmony vocals and Alison Krauss's fiddle work. Bill Frisell's air-hanging guitar adorns the mournful "Eucalyptus Trail." And Jones as jazzy chanteuse takes center stage on "The Moon is Made of Gold," a jaunty lullaby written for her by her father, Richard Loris Jones.

Jazz Grammy Nominees

2009-12-03T09:59:00.008-05:00

Grammy nominations in the pop and rock categories long have been more about a popularity contest -- moving units or, now, downloading via iTunes -- than an attempt to honor anything like musical art or innovation. Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

To the credit of NARAS, though, nominees in the jazz categories often include first-rate musicians, genuine artists who AREN'T household names, who don't show up in the supermarket tabloids.

A few of my favorites from 09 are missing, and I'll put together my own list (also to be included in the Village Voice poll) later this month.

In the large ensemble category, how could voters miss Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge's The Comet's Tail, a stunning tribute to late saxophone great Michael Brecker, with guest shots by Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, and Mike Stern, among other name artists?

Still, it's encouraging to see such strong talent represented in all of the jazz categories.

Will the late, revered Weather Report keyboardist/composer Joe Zawinul, nominated for the final release from his Zawinul Syndicate, beat out great jazz/fusion guitarist Mike Stern and critically acclaimed vibraphonist Stefon Harris, for "best contemporary jazz album"?

Will Italian-born singer Roberta Gambarini, a critical darling who's firmly in the tradition of Ella and Sarah, get the nod for "best jazz vocal album" over the likes of Chicago-based Kurt Elling and LA's Tierney Sutton?

For "best jazz instrumental album," will voters go for all-star projects led by vibraphonist Gary Burton, or Chick Corea/John McLaughlin, or will the vote split result in a win for New Orleans pianist/composer Allen Toussaint, bass great John Patitucci, or LA's Clayton Brothers?

Stay tuned.

A couple of notes: Nice to see mad banjo man Bela Fleck and funk/fusion bassist extraordinaire Marcus Miller show up in the category of "best pop instrumental performances." And it looks like wallpaper jazz, I mean, smooth jazz, is largely relegated to the category of "best pop instrumental album," which is where it probably belongs.

Jazz nominees, below .......

Best Contemporary Jazz Album
'Urbanus,' Stefon Harris & Blackout
'Sounding Point,' Julian Lage
'At World's Edge,' Philippe Saisse
'Big Neighborhood,' Mike Stern
'75,' Joe Zawinul & The Zawinul Syndicate

Best Jazz Vocal Album
'No Regrets,' Randy Crawford (& Joe Sample)
'Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane And Hartman,' Kurt Elling
'So In Love,' Roberta Gambarini
'Tide,' Luciana Souza
'Desire,' Tierney Sutton (Band)

Best Improvised Jazz Solo
'Dancin' 4 Chicken,' Terence Blanchard, soloist
'All Of You,' Gerald Clayton, soloist
'Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey,' Roy Hargrove, soloist
'On Green Dolphin Street,' Martial Solal, soloist
'Villa Palmeras,' Miguel Zenón, soloist

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
'Quartet Live,' Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow & Antonio Sanchez
'Brother To Brother,' Clayton Brothers
'Five Peace Band - Live,' Chick Corea & John McLaughlin Five Peace Band
'Remembrance,' John Patitucci Trio
'The Bright Mississippi,' Allen Toussaint

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
'Legendary,' Bob Florence Limited Edition
'Eternal Interlude,' John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
'Fun Time,' Sammy Nestico And The SWR Big Band
'Book One,' New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
'Lab 2009,' University Of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band

Best Latin Jazz Album
'Things I Wanted To Do,' Chembo Corniel
'Áurea,' Geoffrey Keezer
'Brazilliance X 4,' Claudio Roditi
'Juntos Para Siempre,' Bebo Valdés And Chucho Valdés
'Esta Plena,' Miguel Zenón

Everybody's Fine (movie review)

2009-12-03T09:17:00.003-05:00

Title to the contrary, all is not well with this sentimental and unsatisfying Robert DeNiro vehicle. Read my extended review, below, or read the reviews as published in Las Vegas City Life and Folio Weekly.

Everybody's Fine
Rated PG-13; 100 minutes

Everybody's Fine, a Robert DeNiro vehicle with the former tough-guy actor as an aging widower striving to reconnect with his adult children, must have sounded just fine on paper.

Adapted from the 1990 drama of the same name from celebrated Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), the new film was helmed by Brit director-writer Kirk Jones, responsible for quirky small-town comedy Waking Ned Devine.

Structurally and thematically, it's reminiscent of Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, with Jack Nicholson as the widower on the loose, and Paul Mazursky's 1974 gem Harry and Tonto, with Art Carney as an elderly man traveling cross country, staying on the move with the knowledge that he still hadn't found what he was looking for, and not even sure that he'd recognize it if he did.

Some might draw parallels between Jones' movie and Sam Mendes' recent Away We Go, about a young couple on a North American road trip, a quest for a place to call home, experiencing dysfunctional family and friends along the way.

Sadly, Jones' film is inferior to the above mentioned movies. Despite its pedigree and its respectable cast, with Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, and Kate Beckinsale in supporting roles, Everybody's Fine is as sentimental and saccharine as it is unconvincing in its portrayals of various slices of Americana.

Jones, who also directed Nanny McPhee, offers establishing exteriors and extended interior shots that do little to give viewers a real feel for life in various locales portrayed onscreen -- New York, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas.

Worse, the film is another exhibit marking the continuing decline of a once great actor. DeNiro, aiming to illuminate the emotional life of a man mired in melancholy, sadness and, eventually, regret, alternately underacts and overacts -- crying, wincing in pain -- on cue. His performance, in a role originally played by Marcello Mastroianni, comes off as lazy or simply imperceptive.

It's as forgettable as the work of practically all of the other cast members, with the exception of Rockwell as a son who's a struggling orchestral percussionist, and Melissa Leo, in a small role as a sympathetic long-haul truck driver.

Frank Goode (DeNiro) begins his journey after three of his kids beg off from attending a family reunion that would have been the clan's first gathering since their mother's death. So he cuts his losses, disobeys doctor's orders not to travel, and sets out on a trip to visit each of his children on their respective home turfs.

The first stop is New York, at the apartment of youngest son David, a painter. Frank waits on the stoop all night, but the artist never shows up; the script doesn't explain the absence of a cellphone, generally useful in these situations. In Chicago, Frank connects with his daughter Amy (Beckinsale), a successful and wealthy advertising professional facing troubles on the home front. In Denver, he meets up with Robert, who's just getting by on a musician's salary and perfectly happy with lowered expectations, and in Las Vegas, he visits youngest daughter Rosie (Barrymore), who says that she's content with her life as a dancer at casinos.

Heavy handed metaphor making, regarding communication gaps and the breaking of barriers to truth telling, is abundant here.

But the story comes with disconnects: Is Frank merely a good guy, trying to make things right with his offspring, after decades of ceding relationship building to his late wife? Or is he a mellowed and reformed SOB dad, who once pushed his kids "pretty hard," as Rosie says, and is now aiming for something like last-act redemption?

Trouble is, Jones isn't really sure, which makes it awful hard for viewers to really care about how it all turns out.

Doc Watch: Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

2009-12-02T08:26:00.005-05:00

(Looking back at 2009's documentaries - those in the running for Oscar nominations as well as those left out).

Some chapters of pop culture history are only halfway remembered, like the offshore UK rock 'n' roll goings-on fictionalized in the cute if underwhelming Pirate Radio.

Other tales of celebrity found and lost, though, are all but forgotten, as one of the talking heads in Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg discovered when she contacted CBS, former home to bigger-than-life broadcast personality Gertrude Berg, the subject of the aforementioned documentary. Some execs there had never heard of Berg and her creations.

Filmmaker Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) effectively fills in the blanks with the often fascinating story of a gifted writer, actor and producer who was something of a closet feminist before there were feminists, a female entertainment-world brand builder and empire owner decades before Oprah appeared on the scene.

Berg was also a barrier breaker, presenting positive images of Jewish-American life during an era when anti-Semitism was in full effect, to say the least. In front of a national broadcast audience, she dared to broach the subject of homegrown hatred, and, overseas, the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, topics generally ignored by entertainers at the time.

Turned on to showbiz when she sang and acted in her own productions at her father's Catskills hotel, Berg first gained national attention with her radio show, "The Goldbergs," which began airing shortly after Wall Street crashed in 1929.

Mom and dad Goldberg (Philip Loeb originated the role) and the other older relatives were all old-school Jewish New Yorkers, while the kids were all-American, just trying to fit in. Each show opened with the decidedly maternal Mrs. Goldberg leaning out her apartment window, gossiping with the neighbor ladies across the way.

"The Goldbergs" later migrated to television, essentially keeping the same format, and Berg's lovable family even made it to the big screen. The TV show didn't falter until the mid-'50s, when the program's setting relocated from the Bronx to the suburbs. D'oh - didn't work.

Kempner, using lots of television footage, as well as radio clips, shots of Berg speaking about her life and career, and interviews with such fans as Norman Lear, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and NPR's Susan Stamberg, illuminates the life of a gifted performer who worked tirelessly and also remained committed to family life.

In that respect, she was entirely modern. Berg also demonstrated no small amount of moral courage, making a strong stand against the McCarthyites who labeled Loeb a communist, successfully sinking his career. Distraught, he later committed suicide.

Call it a pop-culture rescue operation: Kempner gives Berg her due and, if only temporarily, brings back to life the Goldbergs, whose misunderstandings and misadventures paved the way for countless sitcoms that followed.

----------

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, is NOT one of the 15 documentaries on the short list for Oscar nominations.

Tuesday Flickers: "Precious" and "The Last Station" Top Indie Spirit Awards Noms

2009-12-01T13:45:00.008-05:00

No surprise here: The stunning Precious, a harrowing urban drama directed by Lee Daniels and featuring a knock-out performance by rookie actor Gabbye Sidibe, cleaned up with five nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Daniels, Sidibe, and co-star Mo'Nique ought to start polishing up their Oscar acceptance speeches now; good chance they'll need them.

The Last Station, concerning the life of Tolstoy, also nabbed five, followed by war-trauma drama The Messenger, which received four.

Multiple nominations, too, went to the beautifully acted and written 500 Days of Summer, for best feature, best screenplay, and best male lead (Joseph Gordon Levitt).

Sad/sweet rock documentary Anvil!, locked out of the Oscar nominations, got a little love this time.

And "Paranormal Activity," which easily generated the most scares per dollar spent on any movie this year (budget: $15k; box office, so far: $100 million+), earned a nomination for best first feature.

Ceremonies will air live and uncut March 5 at 8 p.m. (PST) on the Independent Film Channel.

For more information, see the Los Angeles Times story here.

The complete list.....

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
500 Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
Sin Nombre
The Last Station

BEST DIRECTOR
The Coen Brothers for A Serious Man
Lee Daniels for Precious
Cary Fukunaga for Sin Nombre
James Grey for Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman for The Messenger
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station
Lee Toland Krieger for The Vicious Kind
Greg Mottola for Adventureland
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber for 500 Days of Summer

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes for Cold Souls
Scott Cooper for Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis for Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious
Tom Ford, David Scearce for A Single Man

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello for Downloading Nancy
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Gwentyth Paltrow for Two Lovers
Gabby Sidibe for Precious
Nisreen Faour for Amreeka

BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Colin Firth for A Single Man
Joseph Gordon Levitt for 500 Days Of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane for Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott for The Vicious Kind

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun for Cold Souls
Mo'Nique for Precious
Samantha Morton for The Messenger
Natalie Press for Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska for That Evening Sun

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clements for Gentleman Broncos
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
Cristian McKay for Me And Orson Welles
Ramon McKinnon for That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins for A Serious Man
Adriano Goldman for Sin Nombre
Anne Misawa for Treeless Mountain
Andrij Parekh for Cold Souls
Peter Zeitlinger for Bad Lieutenant

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Anvil!
Food Inc
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
A Serious Man (Focus)

PRODUCERS AWARD
Karen Chien (The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa)
Larry Fessenden (I Sell The Dead, The House Of The Devil)
Dia Sokol (Beeswax, Nights & Weekends)

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez for Easier With Practice
Asiel Norton for Redland
Tariq Tapa for Zero Bridge

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Natalia Almada for El General
Bill Ross, Turner Ross for Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Jessica Oreck for 45365

Cormac McCarthy Ices His Olivetti

2009-12-01T09:57:00.005-05:00

Five million words, 50 years.

Those are the raw numbers describing the writing output facilitated by one particular portable Olivetti Lettera 32 manual typewriter, sold at a Knoxville, Tenn., pawnshop about 45 years ago.

Revered fiction writer Cormac McCarthy is the Pulitzer-winning author who made that purchase. Together, he and that remarkably reliable machine have conspired to create some of the most impressive works of the contemporary era, including "Blood Meridian," "The Crossing" and "All the Pretty Horses."

Two of his novels have been turned into movies - last year's Coen Brothers-directed, Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, and the just-released The Road.

McCarthy continues to churn out books, stories, screenplays, plays, letters and other pieces of writing, using a newer Olivetti, also manual.

But his old Olivetti is headed for an overdue retirement: The machine is expected to bring at least $15,000 when it's auctioned this Friday. McCarthy is donating the proceeds to the nonprofit Santa Fe Institute, an interdisciplinary scientific research organization.

"“It has never been serviced or cleaned other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose," McCarthy wrote in the letter of authentication that will go to the Olivetti's buyer, according to The New York Times. "I have typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not published."

For the rest of the story, see today's Times piece, written by Patricia Cohen.

Click here for details on the Christie's auction.

Fantastic Mr. Fox : Perfect Pop Confection (review)

2009-11-25T22:25:00.008-05:00

Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, opening wide today, is the movie season's most perfect pop confection, an animated feature, based on the Roald Dahl children's book, that's one of the funniest and most entertaining films of the year.

The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, the last two films from Anderson, largely were treated by critics as a series of unfortunate set pieces. That assessment, in retrospect, feels a bit harsh; each of those movies had its charms, including appealing performances by some of the filmmaker's usual suspects, and meticulously constructed sets lovingly framed by an auteur who knows from quirkiness.

The same might be said for Fox, a stop-motion gem suggesting that animation, a format allowing Anderson complete control over his tableaux, could be most naturally suited to his sensibility. Viewed through the lens of this film, Anderson's earlier movies might be thought of as overloaded with super-sized miniatures; with Fox he gets the compositions just right.

The script, co-written by Anderson and Life Aquatic collaborator Noah Baumbach, has the title character, a sleek, seemingly suave character in burnt orange fur, dressed in brown corduroy and voiced by George Clooney, facing a career crisis. A reformed chicken thief, now enjoying a respectable career as a newspaper columnist (huh?), Fox can't keep his mind from turning to thoughts of raiding the three farms in direct view of his new treetop digs.

Obstacles? Yes, there are a few, including Fox's loyal wife (Meryl Streep), who's too savvy not to notice that her husband has returned to his criminal ways; wise-cracking, oddball son Ash (Jason Schwartzman), who really needs his dad's attention; and Bean, a tough farmer (Michael Gambon) out for revenge on Fox and his family and friends.

The look of Fox, which boasts a handcrafted feel marked by ruffles and ridges and prickly animal fur that viewers might want to reach out and touch, is a constant revelation.

The dialogue is smart, funny and delivered rapid fire: "Redemption? Yes," Fox says about one villain who comes to a tragic end, but not before helping out the good guys. "But in the end he's just another dead rat in a trash can behind a Chinese restaurant."

The onscreen motion is lovably herky-jerky, and the superb voice cast also includes Willem Dafoe as the aforementioned aggressive rat, and a pair of Anderson regulars - Bill Murray as Badger, and Owen Wilson as Coach Skip.

All that, and the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Burl Ives, Jarvis Cocker, and Art Tatum on the soundtrack, too.

Tuesday Flickers: John Hillcoat, "The Road," and Cormac McCarthy

2009-11-24T01:05:00.005-05:00

The Road, Australian filmmaker John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's stunning post-apocalyptic novel, looks to be one of the most intriguing -- and darkest -- major releases of the holiday season.

Opening tomorrow, the film is picking up mixed reviews.

"Evocative as it is, The Road comes up short, not because it's bleak but because it's monotonous," David Edelstein writes in New York magazine.

A.O. Scott, reviewing for The New York Times, says, "The Road is engrossing and at times impressive, a pretty good movie that is disappointing to the extent that it could have been great." Read the rest of the review here.

The heart of the beautifully crafted novel is a father-and-son love story, an aspect of the book that Hillcoat emphasized in the film, as the director of The Proposition told PopMatters.

“He (the father, played by Viggo Mortensen) is teaching him what love is," Hillcoat said. "The Boy is born into this hopeless world knowing from that relationship what love is and what’s sensible. And actually, that’s the whole point of the story.”

For the rest of the story, click here.

Los Angeles Times reporter Scott Timberg recently offered an analysis of McCarthy's career, and his relationship with the movies. The author, who seldom speaks to the press, declined to give an interview for the piece.

"The author was so poor he couldn't afford toothpaste, but refused to do anything to promote his work," Timberg writes. "It's the biography of a starving artist, not a Hollywood player. But with this week's release of The Road, Cormac McCarthy -- the reclusive author who told Oprah Winfrey that he didn't care if people read his books -- will be officially enshrined as one of Hollywood's hottest properties.

It's not just The Road, a grim but sometimes stirring post-apocalyptic tale directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. Andrew Dominik, the adventurous Australian director who adapted The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford from Ron Hansen's novel, has expressed interest in McCarthy's The Crossing."

Monday Flickers: A "Precious" Backlash?

2009-11-23T16:07:00.008-05:00

As the title character in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, young actor Gabourey Sidibe, portraying an overweight black young woman who suffers traumatic sexual and emotional abuse, has justifiably picked up raves.

The film, which opened wide on Friday, so far has scored $21.4 million at the box office. And it has received some of the best reviews of the year, with many critics suggesting that the movie will be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination.

Roger Ebert called Precious "a great American film," while the Washington Post's Ann Hornaday wrote that it "qualifies as the most painful, poetic and improbably beautiful film of the year."

Betsy Sharkey, writing in the Los Angeles Times, had this to say: "Nothing quite prepares you for the rough-cut diamond that is Precious. A rare blend of pure entertainment and dark social commentary, this shockingly raw, surprisingly irreverent and absolutely unforgettable story."

Metacritic score: 79/100. Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%.

Made on a $10 million budget, Precious was conceived and created by African-American artists: Director Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer) and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher adapted the film from Sapphire's novel, published in 1996. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are among the executive producers.

And now, the backlash, as no good work goes unpunished.

A few critics, including New York Film Critics Circle chairman Armond White, are taking to task the film's decidedly negative representations of black life, according to a story in the New York Times.

White, in his New York Press review, delivered an incendiary attack, comparing the film to one of the most vilified movies of all time.

"Not since ‘The Birth of a Nation’ has a mainstream movie demeaned the idea of black American life as much as Precious. Full of brazenly racist clichés (Precious steals and eats an entire bucket of fried chicken), it is a sociological horror show.”

White, a black critic with something of a reputation for drawing attention to himself with reviews that seem to stoke controversy for the sake of stoking controversy, isn't alone with his concerns. Black academics and other observers have expressed dismay over the African-American images presented by the film, accusing the movie of fostering ugly stereotypes.

Others, though, disagree with White's assessment, according to the Times piece: "Latoya Peterson, the editor of Racialicious.com, a blog about the intersection of race and popular culture, said Mr. White was off base. 'His review buys into the narrative that there can only be one acceptable presentation of black life,' Ms. Peterson said. 'He’s flattening the black experience, and in that way, he denies our humanity.' Ms. Peterson, who lives in the Washington area, said that she believed that Precious effectively tackled many issues affecting young girls: 'sexual abuse, poverty, violence and failing schools.' "

I tend to take Peterson's line. Extreme political correctness demands absolute control of images, in order to ensure that nobody, anywhere, will take offense. The artist's way, though, is to reflect all of life, whether perfect or flawed, beautiful or ugly to behold.

Precious is nothing if not a work of art.

White may be well intentioned, but he's wrongheaded. Here's hoping that his critical sniping won't hurt this film's commercial prospects, or chances for Oscar success.

Listening Post, Thanksgiving Week: Dr. John, Manhattan Transfer, Jim Rotondi, Stafford-Oatts, Trio West

2009-11-23T11:00:00.003-05:00

Five releases in rotation at home and in the car - a list without comment (in alphabetical order):

Dr. John, Right Place, Right Time: Live at Tipitina's (Hyena, 2006)

The Manhattan Transfer, The Chick Corea Songbook (4Q, 2009)

Jim Rotondi, Blues for Brother Ray (Posi-Tone, 2009)

Terell Stafford-Dick Oatts Quintet, Bridging the Gap (Planet Arts, 2009)

Trio West, Trio West Plays Holiday Songs, Vol. 2 (Yummyhouse Records, 2009)

Sunday Flickers: Twilight: New Moon's Astounding Box Office Take; Funny Book Parody "Nightlight"

2009-11-22T12:01:00.007-05:00

The Twilight Saga: New Moon isn't merely making history as the second worst-reviewed major movie of 2009, after the truly rotten Transformers sequel.

It's breaking records at the box-office, too.

With a North American take of $140.7 million, it will also go down as the film with the third biggest opening weekend of all time, following two vastly superior movies - The Dark Knight ($158.4 million, 2008) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million, 2007).

Nothing like the appeal of protagonists with super powers, huh?

Worldwide, the young-vampires-in-love flick did big numbers, too, with $248.8 million in 25 foreign countries. Translation: Seventh-biggest screen launch of all time.

New Moon is expected to eventually rack up about $500 million at the box office, outpacing the $385 million earned so far by the first Twilight (2008), according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

What this all means: No end in sight for Twilight mania.

**********

Here's hoping that fans and foes of the squeaky-clean series will pick up on "Nightlight: A Parody," a book written by the staff of the Harvard Lampoon.

The story, set in rainy Switchblade, Oregon, centers on the uh, dreamy vampire Edwart Mullen, a computer nerd who suffers from nosebleeds. Clumsy teen girl Belle Goose, deluded that every boy and man she meets pines for her, is in love with Edwart.

Back-jacket copy: "About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart wsa most likely my soul mate, maybe." Check out Susan Carpenter's review in the L.A. Times.

Now it's back to work on my five-book series charting the adventures of a young girl and her love for two dreamy mummy boys. If only those bloody bandages didn't keep getting between my heroine and her amours. Please don't steal my idea.

Friday Flickers: New Moon, The Wolfman, Transylmania

2009-11-20T16:25:00.008-05:00

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which only a court order could make me go see, had the tweens, teens, and their put-upon adult chaperones out in droves last night for the midnight screening at AMC Veterans in Tampa.

I had to wind my way through the crowds before and after the screening of the weepy, overwrought Everybody's Fine, yet another exhibit in the decline of Robert DeNiro's once great film career.

The young-vampires-in-love sequel is racking up all kinds of dismal reviews, including one from Roger Ebert. "Sitting through this experience is like driving a pickup in low gear though a sullen sea of Brylcreem," Ebert wrote.

New Moon scored a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 46 (out of 100) on Metacritic. Stephanie Zacharek, writing in Salon, calls the movie "a cheap, shoddy piece of work, one that banks on moviegoers' anticipation without even bothering to craft a satisfying experience for them. Its pandering is an insult."

And yet and yet (I write, at the very moment that my 10-year-old daughter is seeing it with her friend, who purchased tickets way in advance) ... the film has beaten Harry Potter's record, in terms of midnight-movie sales. More than $26.27 million worth of midnight-show tickets were sold last night, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, earlier this year, picked up $22.2 million in midnight showings.

More good news for a bad movie: The weekend take for New Moon has the potential to exceed $100 million, which would put it in second place behind one of the other worst movies of the year, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (see my review here). Last year's first Twilight had an opening-weekend take of $69.6 million. That film was re-released last night, and racked up $1.3 million.

Speaking of vampires and werewolves, a couple of forthcoming flicks look to be a lot more fun than New Moon.

The Wolfman, inspired by the 1941 Universal horror classic of the same name and starring Benicio Del Toro in the title role, is slated for release in February, after being postponed from this month. Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III, October Sky, Jumanji) directed and the cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Geraldine Chaplin. Wolfman trailers: #1 & #2.

The horror-comedy spoof Transylmania, starring a cast of mostly unknowns and directed by sibling filmmakers David and Scott Hillenbrand (Survival Island), opens Dec. 4. Looks like low-places comedy and lots of guilty laughs. More info and the trailer here.

Oscar Documentaries: The Final 15

2009-11-19T16:31:00.003-05:00

The short list of documentaries to be considered for Oscars has been announced, and there are a few surprises. Namely, in what films were left out.

MIA are guitar-god story It Might Get Loud, starring Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White (of the White Stripes), and another rock doc -- Anvil: The Story of Anvil, a sad/funny account of a Canadian metal band that has slugged it out for 30 years, getting respect from famous imitators but never grabbing any of the glory.

Also out of the running is Capitalism: A Love Story, revered by Michael Moore's fans but viewed by others as yet another round of didactic propaganda. Could it be time for Moore to try something less strident and more insightful, or at least more entertaining?

Here's the full list, as selected by the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (and listed by the New York Times):

“The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)(pictured)

“Burma VJ,” Anders Ostergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)

“The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)

“Every Little Step,” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)

“Facing Ali,” Pete McCormack, director (Network Films)

“Food, Inc.,” Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)

“Garbage Dreams,” Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films)

“Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures)

“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications)

“Mugabe and the White African,” Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors (Arturi Films)

“Sergio,” Greg Barker, director (Passion Pictures and Silverbridge Productions)

“Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors (Freedom Song Productions)

“Under Our Skin,” Andy Abrahams Wilson, director (Open Eye Pictures)

“Valentino: The Last Emperor,” Matt Tyrnauer, director (Acolyte Films)

“Which Way Home,” Rebecca Cammisa, director (Mr. Mudd)

Rob Marshall's "Nine" - Final Trailer

2009-11-19T00:01:00.004-05:00

Nine, Chicago director Rob Marshall's adaptation of the Tony-winning 1982 Broadway musical, itself based on Italian auteur Federico Fellini's autobiographical 8 1/2, opens in NY and LA on Dec. 18, and nationwide on Christmas Day.

Expect another bravado turn from Daniel Day-Lewis, joined by a cast including Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Stacy Ferguson (Fergie), and veteran screen beauty Sophia Loren.

The script, notably, was co-written by late, great filmmaker Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain, The English Patient) and Michael Tolkin (Changing Lanes, Deep Impact).

Initially slated to be released on Nov. 25, it was bumped back to make room for The Road, also from The Weinstein Company.

Looks to be a visual feast, at the least. Here's the final trailer.

The Blind Side: Tenderhearted, Surprisingly Well Acted (Review)

2009-11-18T13:51:00.007-05:00

(My review of The Blind Side was published in Folio Weekly. Click here to link directly to the piece online).

The Blind Side
(PG-13)

Professional cynics and others constitutionally immune to the joys of sentimentality and conventional storytelling at the movies are likely to find The Blind Side easy to dismiss.

The film, recounting a homeless youth's rise from dirt-poor beginnings to a career in the NFL, thanks to the support and encouragement of a wealthy Memphis family, indeed is told in a straightforward manner, aside from a flashback that sets the plot in motion. There are probably one too many sequences during which cinematographer Alar Kivilo scans across dreamy smiles, and the mood occasionally turns overly saccharine.

Worse, in the eyes of some observers, is the lifted-up-from-poverty angle, as a seemingly helpless and aimless black teenager -- from a community called Hurt Village, honest to God -- is portrayed as prospering only through the help of benevolent whites.

Another patronizing product of white liberal guilt? It's all "white self-congratulation," according to one agenda-burdened Canadian reviewer.

The problem with that flawed analysis, of course, is that the story isn't merely a Hollywood contrivance: Texas-born filmmaker John Lee Hancock, also responsible for another feelgood sports movie, The Rookie, adapted his latest from a nonfiction novel, Michael Lewis's "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game."

Quietly impressive performances distinguish The Blind Side from its movie-of-the-week forebears.

In particular, there's a newly blonde Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a trim and feisty interior decorator and former cheerleader who convinces her husband (country star Tim McGraw) and their family to let a young stranger live with them. The visitor is oversized, shy Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), admitted to the Tuohy kids' ritzy private school thanks to the efforts of the school's coach (Ray McKinnon), eager to field a winning football team.

As with the screenplay for every feelgood film in movie history, The Blind Side offers obstacles for its protagonist to overcome and lessons to be learned by all. There are also victories to be savored, including, ultimately, Oher's impressive playing career with Ole Miss and the Baltimore Ravens.

Before achieving those feats, the kindly but imposing young man is forced to face teachers who make incorrect assumptions about his capacity for learning, and students reluctant to warm to someone from a background so radically different than their own. Michael also struggles to deal with the emotional wreckage of his past, suggested by brief images of childhood trauma. Leigh Anne, too, is forced to confront the unsubtle racism of her socialite friends.

Hancock wisely chooses to underplay the scenes focusing on the aforementioned situations and Bullock effectively navigates a role that in other hands might have alternated between brassy overkill and syrupy sweetness.

The same might be said for the supporting actors, including a suitably laidback McGraw (Four Christmases, Flicka) as Sean Tuohy, the wealthy owner of dozens of fast-food franchises; young Jae Head as SJ's the Tuohys' funny smartypants son; and Lily Collins as pretty teen Tuohy daughter Collins.

The always reliable Kathy Bates is Michael's tutor, Miss Sue, a smart and quirky woman who says she has a deep, dark secret that she must reveal before accepting the job: "I'm … a Democrat," she says. Aaron (Be Kind Rewind), as Michael, goes as deep as the script requires, but not any deeper. Kivilo, who also shot "Year One" and "The Ice Harvest" imbues the spacious interiors and exteriors -- Atlanta doubles for Memphis -- with real warmth.

There's no better time to release a sports movie than at the height of college football season. Fans of the sport will be amused by the cameo appearances of several celebrated coaches, current and former, all of whom apparently recruited Oher -- Alabama's Nick Saban, Tennessee's Phil Fulmer, South Carolina's Lou Holtz, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, and Ole Miss's Houston Nutt and Ed Orgeron.

Those appearances add to the entertainment quotient of a film that effectively balances gentle comedy and dramatic uplift. To his credit, Hancock makes it all look easy.

Roland Guerin, in Bass Player Magazine

2009-11-10T13:50:00.003-05:00

As a longtime devotee of New Orleans music, I've had the privilege of hearing bassist Roland Guerin play on too many occasions to count. We recently talked, for an interview published in Bass Player magazine. Click here to link to the piece, or read the full text below:

NEW ORLEANS SCENE STALWART Roland Guerin was an undeclared MVP at Jazz Fest this year, variously laying down solid jazz walking and spiky funk grooves with keyboard men Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler, and Ellis Marsalis. When not playing with them, guitarist John Scofield, or pianist Marcus Roberts, Guerin is busy prepping his sixth solo album. He has also contributed music to the score of the documentary “Historically Black,” a forthcoming DVD from Nerjyzed Entertainment.

Lately, you seem to be drawn to playing in piano trios. What do you like about that kind of setting?
There’s plenty of space for everyone’s voices. I can rest assured the other guys are listening and ready to support me, as long as I have good ideas that make sense. But I like just about any setting where the music is on a high level.

How do you approach your gigs with New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint?
The bass lines Allen writes have a personality that help define the essence of his songs. When I play the lines exactly as written, that personality comes through in my voice, with my interpretation of the groove and melody.

What’s a key element in playing the New Orleans style rhythm?
You have to understand where the four sits. There’s no other place with that kind of groove and expression.

HEAR HIM ON
Marcus Roberts Trio, New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 [J-Master, 2009]; Jeremy Davenport, We’ll Dance ’Til Dawn [Basin Street, 2009]; Wess Anderson, Warm It Up, Warmdaddy! [Nu Jazz, 2009]

GEAR
Upright basses - Two e-size Juzeks with medium-gauge Corelli 370 strings, Fishman Full Circle pickups, and Audio-Technica ATM350 condenser mics
Electric basses -- Ibanez BTB 576 six-string tuned EADGCF, Ken Smith 7-string strings; Ibanez Roadster 2 4-string; custom arch top 6-string hollowbody acoustic bass guitar (of his own design)

Rig
SWR Natural Blonde combo; SWR Working- Pro 700 head and SWR Goliath Junior Cab; SWR Baby Blue head (for recording)

Bear Creek: Best Jam/Funk Fest in the Southeast?

2009-11-05T17:04:00.006-05:00

The Bear Creek Music & Art Festival, at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, kicks off its third edition next Thursday with pre-fest shows by Toubab Krewe and others.

I covered Bear Creek last year for Relix mag, and found the event to be one of the best groove-music festivals in the Southeast.

The fest, featuring top-shelf bands variously playing jam, funk, jazz, world music, rock, bluegrass, New Orleans music, and other styles, was well organized, not overcrowded, and packed with tons of great sit-ins and other unique musical happenings.

Slide-guitar wizard Derek Trucks, who wasn't even billed last year, sat in with Soulive, Lettuce, and keyboardist Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk.

This year's lineup is another knockout, with performances by Galactic, saxophonist Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Dumpstaphunk, organist Robert Walter's 20th Congress (pic of Walter here is from his appearance last year with his trio), all-star collectives Lettuce and Garage a Trois, the Benevento-Russo Duo, New Mastersounds, the Hill Country Revue, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Bonerama, Steve Kimock Crazy Engine, Eric Krasno and Chapter 2, and many others.

Several bands will give multiple performances. And artists at large include several major jazz/funk notables: Keyboardist Bernie Worrell (P-Funk/Talking Heads), trombonist Fred Wesley (James Brown), saxophonist Skerik, percussionist/vibraphonist Mike Dillon, and flutist/keyboardist Kofi Burbridge (Derek Trucks Band).

And Saturday night's "Mystery Show" promises something special.

The fest runs Nov. 13-15. For all the details, click here.

Helios Jazz Orchestra: Tonight in St. Petersburg

2009-11-03T15:01:00.002-05:00

The Helios Jazz Orchestra, led by David Manson, returns to the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg for a show tonight at 7:30. Tickets are $15.

Here are the details, courtesy of Manson:

"This 20-piece modern big band is director by David Manson and features some of the best jazz musicians in the Tampa Bay area. Members of Helios have worked with Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, Bogus Pomp, Bootsy Collins and others. The Helios Jazz Orchestra has performed on the WMNF Jazz Jam and SPC Jazz Festival.

Rita Wilson, Andrea Moraes Manson and Paul Wilborn will be featured vocalists. Selections include Chega de Saudade, Too Close for Comfort, The Jody Grind and others in an assortment of Swing, Bebop, Fusion and Latin jazz.

General admission is $15. The Palladium Theater is located at 253 Fifth Ave. North in St. Petersburg (33701). Tickets are available at (727) 822-3590"

Mac's Back: Dr. John Plays the Palladium This Thursday

2009-11-02T06:55:00.000-05:00

Not sure how I missed this listing, but Dr. John, New Orleans' first physician of funk, is bringing his Lower 911 band -- guitarist John Fohl, bassist David Barard, drummer Herman Ernest -- to St. Petersburg's Palladium Theater on Thursday night.

I caught Mac and his band on Feb. 28 when they played Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota. The occasion was the "Mardi Gras Mambo" double-bill tour with the Neville Brothers.

He sounded better than ever, pumping out those voodoo/hoodoo funk grooves and Professor Longhair-inspired R&B, his deep-digging rhythm trio augmented by baritone sax great Ronnie Cuber.

For his latest CD, last year's City That Care Forgot, the singer-pianist-composer born Mac Rebennack offered political/social commentary on the Katrina disaster and the aftermath. Terence Blanchard, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, and Ani DiFranco guested. Check out Dr. John's MySpace page here.

Bill Wharton, AKA "The Sauce Boss," the Florida blues-based slide guitarist, will open Thursday's show, which starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45. For more info, go to http://mypalladium.org.

Disc of the Day: Los Lobos Goes Disney

2009-10-29T10:39:00.004-04:00

Los Lobos remains one of the world's most gifted and most agile rock 'n' roots bands. For their first CD in three years, they tackle Disney tunes -- some well known, some not so familiar. Click here to go to my review in Las Vegas City Life, or read the text below:

Los Lobos
Los Lobos Goes Disney
(Disney Sound)

Los Lobos turns in a kids-oriented album of Disney songs, releases it on a Disney label, and prepares to play a Disney park. Have the world's finest and still engaging purveyors of East L.A. roots rock, blues and traditional Mexican music been co-opted by the Mouse? Or is the band secretly subverting songs aimed at children?

Neither, really. Los Lobos, who contributed "I Wan'na Be Like You" to Stay Awake, Hal Willner's 1989 Disney compilation (a new, slower-grooving version is here) and did a full children's album in 1995, is simply having its way with awfully familiar material. A half-dozen are gems, sure to pop up in live sets: "Cruella De Vil" swaggers on R&B laced with bent-note guitar runs, while "The Bare Necessities" might be straight from Cajun country, and Jerry Garcia is the guiding light for an ambling, extremely laidback "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah."

Surprises? Try a poignant, slow-mo reading of Randy Newman's "I Will Go Sailing No More" (from "Toy Story") over flickering guitar, a similarly chilled reading of Roger Miller's "Not in Nottingham" (from "Robin Hood"), or the overdriven six-string crunch of "The Ugly Bug Ball" (from "Summer Magic"). Yet again, it's all tasty, artful Americana-plus from David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas and Co.

Listening Post, Week of Oct. 26, 2009: Joey DeFrancesco, Garage a Trois, Jason Isbell, Michael Janisch, Jason Marsalis,

2009-10-28T08:27:00.000-04:00

Five releases in rotation at home and in the car - a list without comment (in alphabetical order):

Joey DeFrancesco, Snapshot (High Note, 2009)

Garage a Trois, Power Patriot (The Royal Potato Family, 2009)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Lightning Rod, 2009)

Michael Janisch, Purpose Built (Whirlwind, 2009)

Jason Marsalis, Music Update (Elm, 2009)

Jazz Duos: Lynne Arriale/Bunky Green; Kenny Drew, Jr./Larry Coryell

2009-10-22T10:08:00.007-04:00

Kudos to WMNF-FM and the Tampa Jazz Club for (separately) presenting two top-flight jazz shows this fall.

Both concerts are specially assembled duo performances, and all four artists are internationally known jazzers.

First up is the WMNF event, launching the station's new series of jazz concerts: Pianist Lynne Arriale and saxophonist Bunky Green play THIS SUNDAY, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Springs Theatre in Sulphur Springs (Tampa).

Green, in addition to his other accomplishments (check out the 2008 profile in Jazz Times mag), is the longtime head of the jazz studies program at UNF in Jacksonville; Arriale, best known for her trio work, is also on the UNF jazz faculty.

The Springs, a one-time movie theatre converted into a recording studio, is a good place to hear jazz -- great acoustics, laidback atmosphere. Tickets are $20 advance, $25 at the door. For more info, click here.

As I've previously noted on this blog, another jazz duo show is on the horizon, and it figures to be one of the Tampa Bay area's most impressive jazz concerts of the year.

Legendary jazz and jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell plays with Kenny Drew, Jr., IMO one of the finest pianists of his generation, on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. at HCC Ybor's newly renovated Performing Arts Building.

It's another in a long line of high-quality jazz concerts presented by the Tampa Jazz Club. Tickets are $21, general public; $16, members; and free to HCC students and faculty.

Disc of the Day: Gov't Mule, By a Thread

2009-10-22T09:40:00.003-04:00

Warren Haynes and Co. deliver one of their finest studio sets yet with the new By a Thread. Click here to read my review online at Las Vegas City Life, or see the full text below.

Gov't Mule
By a Thread
(Evil Teen Records)

Given his multiple residencies in Gov't Mule, the Allman Brothers and the Dead, and his own forthcoming solo recording, Warren Haynes could be the hardest-working man in jam business.

Lesser guitar-playing mortals might be stretched thin by those demands, but not so Haynes: He and his Gov't Mule bandmates -- longtime drummer Matt Abts, keyboardist Danny Lewis, new bassist Jorgen Carlsson -- sound rejuvenated on their first studio recording since 2007's dub-edged Mighty High.

That freshness owes in part to the band's refusal to work within strict musical confines. Metallic bass crunch, a heavy backbeat and the sound of pick scraping string signal the start of opener "Broke Down on the Brazos"; Haynes' leathery vocals tell a tale of desperation, followed by a nasty extended six-string exchange with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

Jimi Hendrix is writ large on the acid-washed "Any Open Window," its relentless blues-rock riff tinted with overdrive and wah-wah. Cathedral organ opens and closes "Gordon James," an unplugged-to-electric lament about merchants of war, and "Steppin' Lightly" flourishes on a circling figure and a big, catchy chorus.

Tying it all together are Haynes' sweet and tart slide lines, soulful singing on lyrics reflecting spiritual malaise, and fat Southern-fried grooves.

Marcus Roberts Trio @ Clearwater Jazz Holiday

2009-10-21T15:17:00.003-04:00

High-end jazz, sadly, was in short supply at last weekend's Clearwater Jazz Holiday, the 30th edition of the festival.

An exception: Sunday's performance by the Marcus Roberts Trio. The pianist, joined by regular drummer Jason Marsalis and, on bass, Rodney Jordan (subbing for Roland Guerin) emphasized American Songbook repertoire.

Roberts' approach, also demonstrated on his recently released New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 (J-Master), was stately and studied but rootsy and eminently swinging, characterized by a willingness to dig between the cracks of the rhythms, and an ability to pull new textures out of familiar material.

He employed those fruitful musical strategies on nearly every piece, beginning with Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight." The set also included Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," Johnny Green's "(You Came to Me From) Out of Nowhere" and several Cole Porter tunes: "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "Anything Goes," and a syncopation-spiked "What is This Thing Called Love."

Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird" was a swinging delight, and Roberts slipped into stride figures during his extended solo on Jelly Roll Morton's "New Orleans Blues."

Marsalis, an underappreciated New Orleans-based drummer overshadowed by the work of his older brothers, was featured on "Balue Bolivar Balues." Using brushes, he drove the chunky funk and, midway through, pulled and stretch the rhythmic tension to nearly the breaking point.

Charles Mingus's "Haitian Fight Song" offered solo space to Jordan, Roberts' fellow colleague on the FSU jazz faculty. The bassist opened the piece unaccompanied, and aptly applied grinding, bluesy lines to the entire tune. During Roberts' solo, he tossed in a reference to George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So."

Roberts' next recording will be a return trip to the music heard on his Deep in the Shed album, released 20 years ago, as he told me during an interview for the St. Petersburg Times.

Meanwhile, those inspired by Sunday's set might want to check out his latest CD, with Roberts, Guerin and Marsalis giving new life to a set of jazz and vintage pop gems, including two of the tunes -- "New Orleans Blues" and "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are" -- played in Clearwater.

Disc of the Day: Monsters of Folk

2009-10-20T21:46:00.002-04:00

The indie-rock supergroup of the year? Yes, that's a fitting description for Monsters of Folk, but the project isn't as contrived as that label might suggest: Their whole comes off as something larger than the sum of the parts.

I'm late in posting this, but below is my review of the CD, as published in Las Vegas City Life. You can link to the piece by clicking here.

Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk (Shangri-La Music)

Any given supergroup faces a built-in challenge. Too calculated and the enterprise comes off as contrived cash-in; too loose and the whole operation devolves into an ill-conceived time filler.

Thankfully, the cheekily named Monsters of Folk, bringing together My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, and M. Ward, falls into neither of those traps. Instead, the four, variously sharing and swapping songwriting, instrumental and vocal duties (Mogis doesn't sing), turn in a brand of folk, or, rather, American indie rock, that distills what they do in their day jobs into a sound that's appealing and mostly avoids preciousness.

Fallen faith -- in deities, in people -- is a theme floating around these 15 tracks, most pointedly on the James-dominated opening and closing tracks: "Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)" allies trip-hop rhythms with old-school soul falsetto vocals and harmonies, and synth-generated harp flourishes, while "His Master's Voice" rambles along on cascading acoustic and electric guitar and occasional dark keyboard pounces.

These monsters offer plenty to love, including Oberst's chugging John Lennon-style rocker "Say Please," complete with nervy guitar skronk; the mythic Americana of Ward's "The Sandman, the Brakeman and Me"; and the wide-spectrum pop of James' "Losin Yo Head." Sequel, please.

Clearwater Jazz Holiday: Brian Bromberg and the It Is What It Is band

2009-10-20T00:33:00.006-04:00

Brian Bromberg, on electric bass and piccolo bass, with the It Is What It Is band, on Sunday. Gary Meek, sax; Will Kennedy, drums; Tom Zink, keyboards; Alec Milstein, second bass; horn section included Tampa Bay area saxophonist Mike MacArthur.

Clearwater Jazz Holiday: Marcus Roberts Trio

2009-10-19T23:54:00.005-04:00

Marcus Roberts Trio, with drummer Jason Marsalis and bassist Rodney Jordan, Sunday at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday.

Clearwater Jazz Holiday: The Case of the Missing Neville

2009-10-19T10:23:00.005-04:00

The Neville Brothers, still reigning as New Orleans' first family of funk, sounded great last night at the 30th annual Clearwater Jazz Holiday.

The band's funk, rock and old-school New Orleans R&B rhythms, by way of the Meters, were driven hard by longtime Nevilles drummer Mean Willie Green. And those ingredients again mixed impressively with Aaron's vocals, from tenor to fluttering falsetto; jazz textures, courtesy of Charles, on alto and tenor sax; and blues B-3 action provided by Art, AKA "Papa Funk."

The set list was familiar, but appealing just the same, and included performances of "Yellow "Moon," "Fiyo on the Bayou," "Fever," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Africa," "Besame Mucho" (instrumental, led by Charles), "Don't Know Much," "A Change is Gonna Come," "Tell It Like It Is," and the traditional "Amazing Grace"/"One Love" closer.

Odd thing, though: Cyril Neville, the percussionist who has always provided a bit of an "edge" to the band, in terms of its New Orleans/Caribbean/African grooves and its political stances, was missing in action. He typically sings lead on several tunes, and provides vocals that are integral to those sweet and gritty Nevilles harmonies.

Even more strange, there was no mention of Cyril's absence, as if the Jazz Holiday crowd wouldn't know or care that he wasn't there.

And then this info, courtesy of a contributor to the chat board at the Jazz Fest site: Cyril apparently skipped his Nevilles gig -- undoubtedly, his "bread and butter" work -- to play two others in New Orleans: The Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival at Lafayette Square Park, and a benefit for ailing blues and gospel singer Marva Wright, at the Rock 'n Bowl.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

(I'll post Nevilles pix here soon, as well as some notes about the performances by the Marcus Roberts Trio and Brian Bromberg. Thanks to the Jazz Holiday media folks for enabling me and my son to catch ringside views of three strong sets).

Stephanie Jordan, Tonight at Polk Theatre in Lakeland

2009-10-15T11:12:00.003-04:00

If a good jazz singer plays a small-town venue, and word doesn't get out, will anybody come?

I hope so. I just today got the word that Stephanie Jordan, part of a family of New Orleans jazzers that includes her dad, saxophonist Edward "Kidd" Jordan, performs tonight at the historic Polk Theatre in Lakeland (FL).

Jordan, a gifted singer who draws from the jazz tradition, was joined by her siblings -- trumpeter Marlon Jordan, flutist Kent Jordan, violinist Rachel Jordan -- for "Here's to Life," a track from Higher Ground, released in 2005 on Blue Note Records. The CD documented a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert that was a benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Stephanie also appeared as a featured artist on Kent's You Don't Know What Love Is, released the same year.

Show time is 7:30, and tickets range from $20 to $40. As of this morning, about 30% of the tickets had been sold, according to a seating chart. For more information and to buy tickets online, click here.

Marcus Roberts at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday

2009-10-15T08:10:00.003-04:00

The Marcus Roberts Trio, led by the gifted Florida-based pianist, will be among the highlights of this year's Clearwater Jazz Holiday. The free-admission festival starts tonight and continues through Sunday.

I've followed Marcus's career for a long time. Way back when, I traveled to Tallahassee to interview him for his first feature in Down Beat magazine. I recently spoke to Marcus about his latest CD, his trio, and how he incorporates jazz tradition in his approach to playing and composing.

To read the story, as published in the St. Petersburg Times, click here.

Or see my extended version of the story below:

Marcus Roberts/Clearwater Jazz Holiday
By Philip Booth

Music festivals come and go, and several have fallen victim to recession-driven cutbacks.

The Clearwater Jazz Holiday, though, celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend with a lineup largely focused on smooth jazz. Singer Al Jarreau, saxophonist Boney James, trumpeter Chris Botti, and bass virtuoso Brian Bromberg are among the headliners, along with veteran New Orleans funk band the Neville Brothers. All except Jarreau are making encore appearances at the festival.

The event, which annually draws tens of thousands to breezy Coachman Park on the waterfront, has presented genuine jazz legends over the years.

Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Mose Allison, and big bands led by Count Basie, Buddy Rich and Woody Herman played the Jazz Holiday during the '80s. Stephane Grappelli, Nat Adderley, Arturo Sandoval, T.S. Monk, and Stanley Clarke were among the jazz heavy hitters on the Holiday bill in the '90s. And several major jazzers, including Terence Blanchard, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis, Tony Bennett, and Herbie Mann, have played the fest during the last decade.

Fans of straight-ahead jazz are marking their calendars for Sunday's performance by the Marcus Roberts Trio. The acclaimed pianist has worked with Wynton Marsalis and released a string of solo albums, including seven albums in as many years for Sony.

Earlier this year, Roberts released New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 on his own J-Master label. It's a salute to the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk.

The disc, the pianist's first since leaving Sony in 2001, has Roberts joined by longtime trio mates Roland Guerin on bass and Jason Marsalis on drums for a funky version of Joplin's "The Entertainer" and a down-home take on Monk's "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are," among other tunes. (For Sunday's show, Rodney Jordan will fill in for Guerin.)

Why the long wait between recordings?

"I didn't feel any huge urgency to have something out," Roberts, who has been blind since age four, said from his home in Jacksonville. "I felt that, given the climate and the (recording industry) changes that were taking place, I should wait and let things settle down so that I could start with a more systematized approach to how I want to deliver content to people. I probably have about five or six CDs' worth of stuff that could have been put out. It wasn't because of any lapse in creative work."

The CD, eventually to be followed by a second volume, with Louis Armstrong music added to the mix, reflects Roberts' artistic imperative. His musical philosophy: Respect the tradition, but keep moving forward.

"I feel like one of the definitive characteristics of any great band is that you have original music -- that you contribute to the legacy of the music -- and that you also create a dialogue with the standard literature," he said. "I feel like we play these arrangements in a unique way. Our sound and approach still comes across."

Roberts, an assistant professor of jazz studies at his alma mater, Florida State University, in addition to leading trio projects has recently worked with singer Dianne Reeves. Next year, he and his trio plus saxophonist Wess Anderson, trumpeter Marcus Printup and other horn players will record music originally heard on the pianist's 1989 Deep in the Shed album.

"I'm always interested in the tension that is created when you take something that is 'old' and you find something new to do with it," Roberts said. "I think that is a compelling and very rich thing."

Mickey Raphael, Willie Nelson's Harmonica Man: Twitter Interview

2009-10-14T17:09:00.007-04:00

Mickey Raphael, longtime harmonica man for legendary country outlaw Willie Nelson, plays a major role in the new documentary film Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis Play the Music of Ray Charles.

The movie, capturing those artists plus guest Norah Jones in concert last February at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, is benefiting from an unusual rollout.

Tomorrow, it will be available at select theaters; on Oct. 18, it airs on HDNet and Sirius XM's "Real Jazz" channel; and on Oct. 20 it will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
A CD of the concert will be released on Blue Note Records in 2010.

In support of the film's release, Raphael did an interview today on Twitter (a Twitterview?) Below are his responses, in approximate reverse order, to questions from folks all over the Twitter universe, including me:

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Thanks for all your great Qs. The letter limits on Twitter answers felt like "Scrabble from hell". #MickeyRaphael11 minutes ago from Tweetie
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MR: @jphilipbooth Solo record? I’ve been talking to Joey Burns from Calexico. I would do something with them in the future. #MickeyRaphael16 minutes ago from Tweetie
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kmaverick Hey @AEHomeEnt if you could perform with any popular artist, who would it be and why? #MickeyRaphael about 1 hour ago from Seesmic
MR: @kmaverick Would have loved to play w/ Frank Sinatra. Could just see him looking back, saying, "What the hell was that?" #MickeyRaphael19 minutes ago from Tweetie
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MR: @AnnaCBee “How did you meet Willie?” Met in Texas in 1972 through Coach Darrell Royal (Willie’s friend and big music fan) #MickeyRaphael21 minutes ago from Tweetie
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MR: @jphilipbooth “Do harmonica players get the respect they deserve?” / Yes and no – someday we’ll play a “real” instrument. #MickeyRaphael24 minutes ago from Tweetie
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TwangNation @AEHomeEnt will you be a part of Willie's new bluegrass album with T. Bone Burnett? #MickeyRaphael 35 minutes ago from web
MR: @TwangNation "Will you be a part of Willie's new bluegrass album with T. Bone Burnett?" Yes. I’m really excited about it. #MickeyRaphael27 minutes ago from Tweetie
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AnnaCBee @AEHomeEnt #MickeyRaphael: How old were you when you first started playing the harmonica? Was it your first instrument? about 2 hours ago from web
MR: @annacbee I was a teenager when I first started playing the harmonica. Felt natural to me. Also played guitar, but wasn't very good.31 minutes ago from Tweetie
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jphilipbooth @AEHomeEnt What makes your instrumental "voice" work so well with Willie's sound? #MickeyRaphael about 1 hour ago from web
MR: @jphilipbooth Willie's music is heartfelt and to the point. The personality of the harmonica helps to carry that message #MickeyRaphael37 minutes ago from Tweetie
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StillisStill @AEHomeEnt #MickeyRaphael Mickey is it challenging to perform with other bands, like jazz? Do you have favorite music 2 play? about 2 hours ago from web
MR: @StillisStill "Favorite music to play?” I like to play all kinds of music, and I enjoy the challenge. #MickeyRaphaelabout 1 hour ago from Tweetie
MR: @StillisStill "Performing jazz?"/ Playing with Wynton Marsalis was one of the highlights of my musical career #MickeyRaphaelabout 1 hour ago from Tweetie
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AmalphiDesign @AEHomeEnt #MickeyRaphael Hi, How many harmonicas do you have with you for a concert? What's the difference between them? (Tnx, Monique, NL) about 2 hours ago from web
MR: RT @AmalphiDesign "how many harmonicas do u have at concert"? // 20 and they're tuned to different keys about 1 hour ago from web
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asilentflute @AEHomeEnt Top five harmonica players of all time? #MickeyRaphael about 5 hours ago from web
MR: RT @asilentflute "Top5 harmonica players" Hard 2 pick, but Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Slim Harpo, Paul Butterfield, Kim Wilson about 1 hour ago from web
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jojosev @AEHomeEnt #mickeyraphael what one moment in his career really stands out,you know goosebumps up the spine? about 5 hours ago from web MR: RT
@jojosev "Moment in his career really stands out" - playing "Georgia" with Willie at Ray Charles' funeral about 1 hour ago from web
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CelebStoner @AEHomeEnt Question for Mickey: Do you smoke Willie Weed? Are you a big stoner like Willie? #MickeyRaphael about 21 hours ago from web
MR: @CelebStoner to your question - I think I once was, but I forget. about 1 hour ago from web

It Might Get Loud (Movie Review)

2009-10-08T07:32:00.007-04:00

Early on in the inspired and inspiring music documentary It Might Get Loud, Jack White of the White Stripes confesses that he has his own agenda for participating in a guitar summit with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and U2's The Edge.

White, 34, whose six-string skronk and charismatic front-man work also enliven the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, admits that he wants to con his older brothers in rock into giving up some of their sonic secrets. "I'm going to trick them into teaching me all their tricks," says White, who's dressed all in black and effects a '30s-gangster look.

Maybe he's just jesting. At any rate, there's not much in the way of spilled secrets, onscreen at least, in the film, directed by Davis Guggenheim (of global-warming tract "Inconvenient Truth").

Page, 65, 48-year-old Dave "The Edge" Evans and White aren't particularly verbose when it comes to shedding light on the science of their art, or, really, the meaning behind their music. They'd rather let their axes talk.

And they do, in some informal sessions at a warehouse-looking place in Los Angeles. There's hero-worship gawking, when The Edge and White look on as Page cranks the riff from "Whole Lotta Love," and some noodling, and a rather bland acoustic version of The Band's "The Weight" that ends the film.

But Guggenheim's mission is far broader than simply assembling rock musicians from three generations for a little jamming and chatting. Instead, he wants to get at how these guitarists arrived at their playing style and sound, how that affected their respective bands, and in turn how popular music was influenced (particularly in the cases of Led Zep and U2).

And the filmmaker largely achieves that goal, delving into the beginnings of each musician, and cutting between individual stories and the group meet in a loose and quite appealing manner.

The white-maned Page talks about listening to British skiffle and American pop, and recounts his decision to quit working as a studio player after a session that was too much like Muzak. He subsequently studied art for a while, before playing with The Yardbirds and then Led Zep; we see clips of both bands. At his mansion, he plays a vinyl recording of Link Wray's "Rumble" and can't stop grinning, and he walks around the Headley Grange house where Led Zep's fourth album was recorded.

The Edge demonstrates his ability to turn even the simplest chord into a symphony of chiming, reverberating, hypnotic sounds via an arsenal of effects pedals and other devices -- the unadorned opening notes of "Where the Streets Have No Name" are contrasted with the song's larger-than-life incarnation at an arena. He takes viewers on a tour of the Dublin school where drummer Larry Mullen posted the musicians-wanted ad that led to the creation of U2.

The band was inspired by early punk and viewed its music as a reaction to the pomposity of the day's reigning rock bands, including the hair-metal acts, a breed perfectly parodied in the film Spinal Tap, says The Edge. Meanwhile, U2 is in the midst of a ginormous, high-priced tour employing the largest set in rock history. Ironic?

Then there's White, who, in the film's opening sequence, is seen assembling a homemade box guitar, plugging it into an amp, and letting it rip with sweet and nasty sounds. As a child in Detroit, he crammed his bedroom so full of musical equipment that he barely had space for his bed, and he worried that hip-hop's dominance potentially meant the death of guitar rock. White, unlike Edge, hates gadgetry, and he shares his enthusiasm for the work of early bluesman Son House.

Guggenheim also makes a point of fetishizing, at least a little, several of these musicians' cherished instruments, including Page's Fender Stratocaster, The Edge's Gibson Explorer, and White's bloodied Kay Hollowbody.

To its credit, and for our listening pleasure, six-string ecstasy has survived as a force in popular music. It Might Get Loud does an admirable job analyzing the guitar mojo of one genuine legend (Page) and two other gifted guitarists, all of whom are doing their part to keep the art alive. Turn dial to 11.

A "Zombieland" Double Tap? Yes, Likely

2009-10-06T15:16:00.003-04:00

Zombieland -- funny, gory, super-fast and, at 81 minutes, not overlong -- is likely to be followed by a sequel.

That's the word on the street, according to a column online at Pajiba.

"Even if it wasn’t one of the most badass movies of the year, Zombieland recouped its production budget in its first weekend, and we can all smell sequel," Dustin Rowles writes.

More evidence that a part deux is on the way: A Zombieland writer declared (via Twitter) his interest in a sequel, and his belief that a greenlight entirely hinges on how the film does this weekend, according to Rowles. Read the entire column here.

On opening weekend, Zombieland grossed about $24.7 million on 3036 screens, for a per-screen average of $8,147.

The film, a horror comedy, thriller, road movie, buddy movie and love story all rolled into one, stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, and was made for about $15 million.

Zombies 'R Us: Zombieland (movie review)

2009-10-01T09:18:00.004-04:00

Vampires are all the rage at the moment, and maybe it's appropriate, as the wrecked economy has sucked the life out of so many folks' job prospects and retirement savings.

But I still have a thing for zombie movies, and I'm happy to report that the new Zombieland is kinda' fun, kinda' funny. Click here to read my review, as published in Las Vegas City Life. Or read the text below.

Zombieland
Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone. Directed by Ruben Fleischer.

When it comes to zombie comedies, a subgenre probably made possible by the comic elements of George Romero's series of wink-wink horror gore fests, the riotous Shaun of the Dead remains atop the bloody heap.

Second-place honors, though, go to Zombieland, a funny and fast-moving tale of the unlikely friendship between Jesse Eisenberg's wimpy but bright nerd and Woody Harrelson's swaggering but dim macho man.

Romero, in Dawn of the Dead, had his shopping mall, the better to suggest parallels between mindless consumers and the undead; in Zombieland, the showdown between the new pals and the zombies takes place in an amusement park, sans significant metaphor making.

Columbus (Eisenberg, Adventureland, The Squid and the Whale), so nicknamed because of his Ohio hometown, may be scared of everything from clowns to social contact. But the guy has developed sharp zombie-survival strategies, which he's codified into a series of rules -- from shooting the undead twice to make sure they're not still alive, to remembering to wear his seatbelt and keeping in shape, the better to outrun the bloodthirsty hordes. Tallahassee (Harrelson, recently in the disappointing Seven Pounds and Semi-Pro), in contrast, relishes every opportunity to meet, and beat, zombies, and is on a sort of quest to track down the last, best surviving Twinkies.

The two become a quartet after twice meeting cute with a pair of savvy sisters, the slick, sexy Wichita (Emma Stone, The House Bunny, Superbad) and pre-teen Little Rock (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, Nim's Island). The four head west to visit that California amusement park. But not before spending a night in a movie star's apparently abandoned mansion, a plot turn leading to a broadly entertaining surprise cameo.

Short and nominally sweet, Ruben Fleischer's directorial debut, with a script penned by TV writers, is as fun and mostly as predictable as a fair ride -- a thrill or two along the way, and little worth remembering after the thing jolts to a stop.

Disc of the Day: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, One Day in Brooklyn

2009-09-27T22:34:00.003-04:00

JFJO is a band whose sound has undergone several radical reinventions. My review of the band was published this week in Las Vegas City Life. Click here to see it, or read below.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
One Day in Brooklyn (Kinnara Records)

Anyone casually dropping in on the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey over the course of the Tulsa band's 15-year journey might be shocked at its evolution. Pianist/keyboardist Brian Haas and electric bassist Reed Mathis started the band as a jammy jazz-funk octet with horns; six years later it became an avant-leaning trio.

Now comes another surprising wrinkle: Mathis is gone, replaced by upright bassist Matt Hayes, and the band expands to a quartet with lap steel guitarist Chris Combs.

The new lineup's debut EP, recorded live in Brooklyn, feels like a validation of Haas' impulse to revamp his band's sound. Now, it's a sometimes tightly grooving, sometimes swinging, sometimes swaying blend of jazz, funk, Americana and classical strains.

Thelonious Monk's "Four in One" is here, with the tricky piano melody riding rambling rhythms and joined by oozing guitar twang. The Beatles' "Julia" is crystalline and poignant, gorgeously understated. And jazz saxophonist and composer Rahsaan Roland Kirk is paid homage with a quirky medley linking a two-beating "A Laugh for Rory" with the dramatic "Black & Crazy Blues."

Also striking: JFJO's own dissonance-edged "Country Girl" and the stately "Drethoven." Haas subverts expectations, again.

Richie Goods, in Bass Player magazine

2009-09-25T21:49:00.007-04:00

I recently spoke with New York-based bassist Richie Goods, who leads his own Nuclear Fusion band and regularly plays with the likes of RTF drummer Lenny White and pianist Michael Wolff.

Click here to read the story, as published in Bass Player magazine.

The full text is below:

Richie Goods: Feel Zeal

PITTSBURGH NATIVE RICHIE GOODS GOT HIS START playing gospel and driving the groove for hometown funk bands before studying upright and electric bass at Berklee. After taking lessons with jazz masters Ron Carter and Ray Brown in New York, Goods went on to work with pop divas Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera, and hip-hop heavies Common and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. On the jazz side, Richie has played with guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Mulgrew Miller. He now splits his time among performances with his band Nuclear Fusion, pianist Michael Wolff, Headhunters, the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, and drummer Lenny White. He’s one of three bassists—along with Stanley Clarke and Victor Bailey—on White’s forthcoming CD.

Why are you so drawn to fusion?
The ’70s was my favorite era in music. I love almost everything that was going on then—R&B, rock & roll, and jazz. I’m trying to get a different audience to start listening to jazz, especially young people. The music we do appeals to them, because it’s funky, has some rock, and has a lot of energy.

What do you want listeners to take away from your performances?
I want to make people feel something. Ever since I was five, people have been telling me that I sounded good. To me, that’s not a huge compliment. A huge compliment is when someone comes up and tells me that I made them feel a certain way. That’s what music is all about.

Is that approach rooted in your early gospel work?
I learned to play by playing piano in the church. The whole Baptist experience is very emotional. I try, through my groove and the bass line, to make people feel something. It’s serious, to me.

HEAR HIM ON
Michael Wolff, Joe’s Strut [Wrong, 2009]; Richie Goods and Nuclear Fusion, Live at the Zinc Bar [Richman Productions, 2008]; Louis Hayes, Maximum Firepower [Savant, 2006]
GEAR

Basses
Fender Victor Bailey Jazz Bass with medium DR Black Beauties; circa-1860 e-size German flatback with Thomastik Spirocore orchestra gauge strings, French bow, and Fishman Full Circle pickup

Rig
SWR SM-400 head; SWR Goliath 4x10 cabinet

Fall Jazz Season, Tampa Bay area: Larry Coryell, Marcus Roberts, Federico Britos/Jorge Garcia, Statesmen of Jazz are Highlights

2009-09-22T21:45:00.008-04:00

Jazz, of the non-smooth variety, sadly gets short shrift at the major performing arts centers in the Tampa Bay area. Yes, again.

Need evidence? Check out those venues' fall schedules:

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa: No major, nationally known jazz artists, although a cabaret/jazz show titled "Last Call for Jazz: The Vocal Stylings of Emilia Sargent" is set for Oct. 9 at the Shimberg Playhouse, and Patel Conservatory students play a "Fall Jazz Jam" on Dec. 18 in the Teco Theater.

Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater: No major, nationally known jazz artists, although Tampa jazz singer Denise Moore and her Then Some band play the venue's Murray Studio Theater on Oct. 9. From the department of bland, prefab smooth jazz: The Rippingtons (Oct. 6), saxophonist Dave Koz (Dec. 3), pianist Jim Brickman (Dec. 10).

Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg: No major, nationally known jazz artists, although several shows by locals are on tap: Sarasota singer Shelly Torman (Sept. 25); the Latin Roots Ensemble (Oct. 9); and the Manhattan Casino All-Stars/Jordan Richardson Jazz Septet (Nov. 13).

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For fans of straight-ahead and mainstream jazz, the Clearwater Jazz Holiday isn't much help this year, either: For the fest's 30th annivesary edition, organizers said yes to loads of smooth jazz (Boney James, Chris Botti, Al Jarreau), yes to a great New Orleans R&B/funk band, the Neville Brothers, yes to quite a few talented local jazz musicians, and no to much in the way of major, nationally known jazz artists.

The Marcus Roberts Trio, with pianist Roberts joined by bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis, is the sole exception to that rule, although monster upright and electric bassist Brian Bromberg sort of counts as high-quality jazz, too, although he too often leans smooth.

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There's great jazz to be found on the Tampa Jazz Club's fall season. A new venue is on tap, too -- the 240-seat theater at HCC Ybor's newly renovated Performing Arts Building, on the northeast corner of Palm Avenue and 14th Street.

First up, on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m., is an encore performance by a blue-chip quartet, with violinist Federico Britos (Charlie Haden, Dizzy Gillespie, Antonio Carlos Jobim) and guitarist Jorge Garcia (Richie Cole, Tony Bennett) joined by bassist Richard Drexler and drummer John Jenkins.

Then, on Nov. 1 at 3 p.m., the Tampa Jazz Club plays host to what promises to be the jazz show of the year, an intimate pairing of legendary jazz/fusion/rock guitarist Larry Coryell (pictured, above) with Kenny Drew, Jr., IMO one of the most brilliant jazz pianists of his generation.

(Should I say here that I once played a trio show with Coryell and drummer Glenn Loomer at the now-defunct Peterson's nightclub on North Franklin Street in Tampa, or would that constitute name dropping?)

Admission to the Tampa Jazz Club shows is $16 for members, $21 for non-members, and free for HCC students and faculty ($5 for other students, with ID).

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This year's lineup for the Monday Night Jazz Series again features high-quality performers, although, unlike in years past, there are no major artists on the bill.

The schedule: Organist Bobby Floyd, with USF Jazz Faculty and USF Jazz Ensemble 1, Sept. 28, Theatre 1; guitarist Bruce Saunders, with USF Jazz Faculty, Oct. 26, Music Recital Hall (FAH 101); saxophonist Mike Tomaro with composer Mark Taylor, with USF Jazz Ensemble 1, Nov. 30, Theatre 1. Performances start at 8 p.m.

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Several notable jazzers, regulars on the Arbors Records label, are joining forces for the Statesmen of Jazz show, Sept. 26 at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg. Vibraphonist Chuck Redd will be joined by singer-bassist Nicki Parrott, pianist Ted Rosenthal, trombonist Dan Barrett, and drummer Joe Ascione. The Nate Najar Trio, with the guitarist joined by Redd and one-time Ellington bassist John Lamb, will open.

This fall, the Palladium is also bringing performances by other local artists to the Side Door venue: Singer Belinda Womack, Oct. 1; and a "Rat Pack Favorites" show featuring a quartet led by singer-pianist Tony Castellano.

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The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association continues to present concerts by good local jazzers. On the way: Latin jazz with flutist Claude Kennedy, drummer Ron Gregg, conga player Frankie Pineiro, trumpeter Dwayne White, and keyboardist Kevin Wilder, Sept. 30 at the Enoch Davis Center; the aforementioned Belinda Womack concert, Oct. 1 at the Palladium. For more information on ADTBJA events, click here.

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Guitarist LaRue Nickelson's new band, Labyrinthitis, plays a special show Oct. 11 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Karma Bar, 206 N. Morgan St. in downtown Tampa. The group also includes drummer Ian Goodman, bassist Joe Porter, and Jeremy Powell on saxophones and keys.

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Last but not least, my group, Trio Vibe, with vibraphonist Sam Koppelman, drummer Dave Hamar and your blog author on bass, returns to Brandon restaurant Della's the first weekend of October and the first weekend of November. For more information, check out our site.

Disc of the Day: Phish, Joy

2009-09-18T09:53:00.005-04:00

It's great to have mighty jamband Phish back in action, and I hope to catch the durable band live before too long. Meanwhile, the group has delivered its first studio CD since the break-up. My review of the new Joy was published in Las Vegas City Life. Click here or read a slightly different version below.

Phish
Joy (Jemp)

Jangly, rambling, and riding a sweet mid-tempo rock groove stoked by Page McConnell's watery and then rootsy piano, "Backwards Down the Number Line" opens Phish's first post-reunion CD with a dose of eminently likable pop. That tune, like several others on the album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, is infused with Trey Anastasio's wondrously creative guitar work and a brand of nostalgia that's relatively free of sap.

No wonder: Anastasio, who wrote much of the new material with the help of longtime collaborating lyricist Tom Marshall, is back from a disastrous bout with drug and alcohol addiction. And after a four-year hiatus, former jamband kings Anastasio, McConnell, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Gordon apparently are back together for the foreseeable future.

Anastasio also hints at his own regrets and tribulations on "Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan," with its trippy, repeating chorus, the anthem "Twenty Years Later," and "Kill Devil Falls," which starts out as a bluesy boot stomper before opening wide for a six-string jam. "But this time will be different/ Until I try it again," he sings on the latter.

Other gems: Gordon's playful, reggae-tinted, "Sugar Shack," showered with gorgeous vocal harmonies; and sprawling, multi-part prog rock piece "Time Turns Elastic." Joy, indeed.

New Languages Festival: Two Weekends of Jazz in Brooklyn

2009-09-10T15:29:00.008-04:00

New York's major summer jazz festival, the JVC Jazz Fest, was a no-show this year, thanks in part to recessionary concerns.

But the 17th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival came off as planned last month, with free-admission concerts by a lineup including saxophonist/flutist Gary Bartz, alto saxophonist Frank Wess, and pianist Cedar Walton.

Next up is the edgier New Languages Festival, the fifth annual edition of which will unfold over two weekends and six nights of triple-act bills at McCarren Hall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The fest is slated to open Thursday, Sept. 17, with a bill headlined by Darcy James Argue's Secret Society (pictured). Also playing: guitarist Joe Morris (Friday, Sept. 18), guitarist Brandon Ross (Saturday, Sept. 19), saxophonist Tim Berne, performing a rarely heard Julius Hemphill Suite (Friday, Sept. 25); and the Akoya Afrobeat Orchestra (Saturday, Sept. 26).

Tickets, $10 per night, are available at the door. DIRECTIONS

Below is the official press release and detailed schedule, courtesy of saxophonist Jackson Moore (Thursday, Sept. 24):

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Once a year, the New Languages Festival attempts to provide a panoramic view of 21st century jazz in New York City. It was first held in 2005 at the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan. Since then, it has thrived on the strength of its programming, which persistently keeps pace with the state of the art as it unfolds in the city. Featured artists have included Jonathan Finlayson, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Brandon Ross, Miles Okazaki, Darcy James Argue, Tony Malaby, Nate Wooley, Amir ElSaffar, Tyshawn Sorey, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mat Maneri, Steve Lehman, Eivind Opsvik, John Hebert, Judith Berkson, Dan Weiss, and numerous others.

We've been able to grow every year over the past five years due to our propensity for taking big risks, but also and especially due to the spectacular good faith of our colleagues and their dedication to making something happen. Despite a challenging fiscal environment, we're back for our biggest event yet, at our new home base in Williamsburg, the epicenter of millenial exuberance in New York City. The festival has become a shining example of how a DIY approach to music-making can push the envelope through good times and bad.

As the corporate music industry slowly shrivels and dies, jazz continues to be a wellspring of energy that musicians and listeners turn to for inspiration. New Languages aims to introduce it to a wider audience, in the belief that the risks and payoffs of improvised music make it the most compelling and entertaining music out there today.
"Communication can sometimes seem like a secondary concern in the adamantine ranks of jazz's avant-garde. But the proponents of new music do enjoy connecting with audiences, and occasionally manage to do so without compromise or contortion. That was the deceptively simple idea behind the New Languages Festival."
- Nate Chinen, The New York Times

"Not surprisingly, the Vision Festival has often been cast as an eccentrically gritty rejoinder to the JVC Jazz Festival...this year the Vision Festival has its own competition, the New Languages Festival."
- Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

"An annual gathering of outside-the-box players"
- The New Yorker

"free jazz is really a music of the '60s, whereas many performers featured here are offering something more futuristic...well worth your time"
Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York

DETAILED SCHEDULE

Thursday September 17----

8:30 pm - Respect Sextet
Josh Rutner - Reeds, Radio, Toys
Eli Asher - Trumpet, Toys
James Hirschfeld - Trombone, Jamespectronics, Toys
Malcolm Kirby - Bass
Red Wierenga - Piano, Keyboard, Accordion, Redspectronics
Ted Poor - Drums
The Respect Sextet is a powerhouse ensemble. Relying on explosive energy, rare telepathy, outstanding musicianship and a deep friendship, Respect pieces together “a whirling collage,” shouts Exclaim! Magazine, "that ransacks and reshapes the entire jazz tradition, from New Orleans march to Misha Mengelberg, Sun Ra to Charlie Parker." Many dialectics are at work (and play) in Respect’s music, in which the serious, heady, and intellectual mingle with the light, comic, and absurd, where compositions alternate with improvisations, and where tight ensemble work coexists with loose, empathic interplay.

10 pm - Ty Cumbie: House of Mirrors
Ty Cumbie - Guitar
Jonathan Moritz - Saxophone
James Ilgenfritz - Bass
John McLellan - Drums

11:30 pm - Darcy James Argue: Secret Society
Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue directs Secret Society, a “powerful and well-stocked ensemble” (New York Times) featuring his “ambitious, sprawling, mesmerizing” music (Montreal Gazette). Secret Society is an 18-piece steampunk bigband that envisions an alternative musical history, one in which the dance orchestras that ruled the Swing Era never went extinct, but continued to evolve with the times, remaining a vital part of the musical landscape straight through the present day. Argue’s compositions bring together “a big, broad musical vocabulary” (New York Times), one which invokes “Duke Ellington and minimalism and Tortoise and Funkadelic and Elliott Carter and much else besides melding into one floating, shifting, dodging music” (zoilus.com).

Secret Society includes powerful soloists like Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Sam Sadigursky (saxophones), and Ryan Keberle (trombone), and is anchored by the “scarily good” (nightafternight.com) rhythm section of Matt Clohesy (bass) and Jon Wikan (drums). The group headlined a night at the 2008 New Languages Festival, a performance All About Jazz called “the highlight of the evening.”

Friday September 18----

8:30 pm - Ben Gerstein: The Gates
Ben Gerstein - Trombone, Turntables
Jacob Garchik - Bass
Craig Taborn - Keyboard
Jacob Sacks - Keyboard
Dan Weiss - Drums
John McLellan - Drums
Trombonist and artist Ben Gerstein has lived in New York City for the sake of music and art since 1995. In addition to his regular contirubutions to others' musics and works, Gerstein has dedicated himself to realizing unique improvised events which differ and evolve based on the idiosyncrasies of moment, place, and personality.

10 pm - Nate Wooley & Joe Morris
Nate Wooley - Trumpet
Joe Morris - Guitar
Nate and Joe have a varied history together, mostly in Daniel Levin's quartet in which Joe played bass, but before that, they had begun working together in a duo that has only been seeing the light of day in this past year. Joe, playing acoustic guitar, is a revelation, finding a new expression for his already highly personal language. The interaction with Wooley is an interesting one, moving from intricate and brittle counterpoint to epic, yet quiet swells of pure noise. The only thing that can be predicted by these two improvisors is their consistent musical unpredictability. The duo recorded a beautiful CD at Roulette last year, which will come out on Clean Feed in early 2010.

11:30 pm - Mike Pride: from Bacteria to Boys
Darius Jones - Alto Saxophone
Alexis Marcello - Piano
Evan Lipson - Bass
Mike Pride - Drumset, Compositions
Mike Pride’s FROM BACTERIA TO BOYS features some of the most startling and beautiful new voices in modern jazz and blurs the lines between rhythmic modern-jazz, chant works, RnB (R. Kelly, mainly) and 20th/21st century classical music, all with an intensity and center of focus any one familiar with Pride’s music has come to expect.

“Mike Pride is the kind of musician that makes the current NYC underground so vital. He’s always challenging himself with new situations and breaking down barriers between different scenes, intermingling avant-rock, avant-jazz, free improv, and miscellaneous wackiness in a countless stream of projects.” - Michael Anton Parker, Downtown Music Gallery

Saturday September 19----

8:30 pm - Brandon Ross’s Natural Name
Brandon Ross - Guitar
Stomu Takeishi - Acoustic Bass Guitar
Elliot Humberto Kavee - Percussion
Guitarist, composer, singer, and songwriter Brandon Ross has shared his exceptional musical honesty and sensitivity with many visionary musicians over the years, including Cassandra Wilson, Henry Threadgill, Tony Williams, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Graham Haynes, Sekou Sundiata, Bill Laswell, Zeena Parkins, Wadada Leo Smith, and many others. Ross plays banjo, electric, acoustic and soprano guitars to extend his expressive field into "folk" oriented musics and compositional approaches that communicate his dedication to fresh musical experience.

10:00 pm - The Bill McHenry Quintet
Bill McHenry - Tenor Saxophone
Andrew D'Angelo - Alto Saxophone
t.b.d. - Guitar
Ben Street - Bass
t.b.d. - Drums
Bill McHenry is a saxophonist, composer and bandleader. He is renowned for his free-wheeling melodicism, demostrated most recently on his newest CD "ROSES".

New York Times critic Ben Ratliff writes: "Any musician who works so effectively against a common language, and uses cliché so little in the process, is worth listening to. There are tons of young jazz saxophonists out there pursuing ideas of harmony and structure and rhythm, but he has something rare going for him. He has a sound. Mr. McHenry is a fresh new voice: He can play with un-orthodox structure and get as free as you want, but he maintains a ripe, lovely tone straight out of the 1950's. Lyrical is probably the most overused word in jazz criticism, but if anyone deserves the word, Mr. McHenry is the one."

11:30 pm - Jessica 6
Nomi Ruiz: Vocals
Morgan Wiley: Keyboards
Andrew Raposo: Bass
After their New York City debut earlier this year, Jessica 6 joins the New Languages festival fresh off of its first European tour. The group met while in the 2008 Hercules & Love Affair Tour, and have been hard at work in the studio cultivating a sound that is as dark as it is sexy, soulful and ready for the dance floor. In 2004, Morgan and Andrew began touring the world with DFA produced hip hip band Automato while Nomi released her debut album "Lost in Lust" and hit the road with Deborah Harry, Antony & the Johnsons and CocoRosie. It wasn't until the three shared the stage in 2008 that they discovered the synergy that inspired them to form Jessica 6.

Thursday September 24----

8:30 pm - Little Women
Travis Laplante - Tenor Saxophone
Darius Jones - Alto Saxophone
Andrew Smiley - Electric guitar
Jason Nazary - Drums
Brooklyn quartet Little Women formed two years ago to create music that blurs the line between structure and spontaneity. The group’s sound distilled from a broad range of influences that stretch from classic Chicago free jazz thru pop music, punk rock, math metal, and harsh noise. Little Women never stop pushing into new sonic territory: splitting overtones to create ghost notes, violently disassembling their instruments onstage, and attacking written and improvised material with equal ferocity. During performances band members often experience side-effects more commonly associated with prescription drugs such as nausea, dizziness, and internal bleeding. Little Women stomp all over genres, creating some of the most adventurous, in-the-moment, wrenchingly honest music of their generation.

10:00 pm - Pete Robbins, Mario Pavone, Tyshawn Sorey
Pete Robbins - Reeds
Mario Pavone - Bass
Tyshawn Sorey - Percussion
The Robbins/Pavone/Sorey trio unites three accomplished improviser-composers. Mario Pavone's years in Thomas Chapin's band and his critically-acclaimed releases as a leader make him one of the most important jazz bass voices of the last three decades. Tyshawn Sorey's work with Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, Vijay Iyer, and others have opened the ears of appreciators of creative music and virtuosic drumming everywhere. Here, they join forces with Robbins, a young saxophonist/composer whose "Brooklyn prog-modern (post)jazz" endeavors blur the boundaries between mainstream and avant-garde jazz."

11:30 pm - Jackson Moore Septet
Jackson Moore - Saxophone
Russ Johnson - Trumpet
t.b.d. - Trombone
Christopher Tordini - Bass
Tommy Crane - Drums
Mike Pride - Drums
Dan Weiss - Drums

Inspired by organizations such as the Sun Ra Arkestra and the AACM, Jackson Moore has pursued a career outside the convential boundaries of the music industry. Over the years he has organized an anarchist community orchestra, recorded a songbook of radically antisymmetrical tunes, created a fully functional musical pidgin language, developed a compositional formalism based on natural language syntax, and organized the New Languages Festival, among other things.

In this performance the septet will striate the venue with rhythmic vectors that 'dye' the ligaments of subjective time. They will use swing to loft a temporal forcefield into the air that provides an omni-directional rhythm section landscape for the listener's imagination to solo over.

Friday September 25----

8:30 pm - Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh
Amir ElSaffar: Trumpet
Hafez Modirzadeh: Saxophone
A Destined Collaboration: Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh, whose musical careers are dedicated to expressing their ancestral traditions (Iraqi and Iranian, respectively) within a personalized and creative jazz language, have teamed together to articulate an unprecedented form of music.

ElSaffar is an accomplished jazz and classical trumpeter who put his New York career on hold to immerse himself in the music of his father's ancestral past, the Iraqi maqam. He went on a tremendous quest, traveling to Iraq, throughout the Middle East and to Europe pursuing masters who could impart to him this centuries-old oral tradition. He created new techniques for the trumpet that enable microtones and ornaments characteristic of Arabic music.

Hafez, based in the San Francisco Bay area and fifteen years Amir’s senior, spent years under the guidance of Iranian master musician, Mahmoud Zoufounoun, learning the Iranian counterpart to maqam, known as dastgah. By 1992, Hafez had developed his own "chromodal" approach to intercultural musical practice, which allows for the co-existence of multiple traditions within one cohesive system, and has since composed a large body of uncompromisingly original work that adapts Persian tuning into a variety of musical contexts.

For this performance, the duo will explore concepts that seek to expand the human spirit, including new and original material that weaves through the tonal spectra of maqam, dastgah, and other traditions.

10 pm - Taylor Ho Bynum and Abraham Gomez-Delgado: Positive Catastrophe
Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet, co-leader
Abraham Gomez-Delgado: percussion, voice, co-leader
Mark Taylor: french horn
Reut Regev: trombone
Jim Hobbs: alto sax
Matt Bauder: tenor & bari sax
Pete Fitzpatrick: guitar
Alvaro Benavides: bass
Tomas Fujiwara: drums
Positive Catastrophe, the brainchild of Taylor Ho Bynum and Abraham Gomez-Delgado, creates truly boundary-crossing music. Bynum has been described as “animated as a vintage Loony Tune...one of the most exciting figures in jazz's new power generation” (Steve Dollar, Time Out Chicago). Gomez-Delgado has been called “the new century's mad scientist, creating a musical hybrid so seemingly wrong it can be nothing but right” (Global Rhythm Magazine). Together they have come up with Positive Catastrophe: a trans-idiomatic ten-piece little big band that connects the dots between Sun Ra and Eddie Palmieri. The group enlists a bevy exceptional players versed in multiple genres, in a unique instrumentation that hints at a traditional jazz and salsa big bands yet includes french horn, erhu, and rock guitar, and a pair of dramatic vocalists that are comfortable singing in three languages.

11:30 pm - Tim Berne: los totopos
Tim Berne - Reeds
Oscar Noriega - Clarinets
Ches Smith - Percussion
Matt Mitchell - Keyboards
Totopos will play a very rare Julius Hemphill suite as well as some recent music by Tim arranged for this occasion. This will be the premier performance for the group.

Saturday September 26----

8:30 pm - John Hollenbeck and Theo Bleckmann
John Hollenbeck - Drums
Theo Bleckmann - Voice
As a percussionist and composer, John Hollenbeck has spent his career challenging boundaries. Exceptionally creative and versatile, John has created a passionate musical language based on world rhythms, lyricism, and spirituality. Vocalist Theo Bleckmann has been forging a new sound for fifteen years, incorporating jazz, ambient and electronic music as well as performance art. He and Hollenbeck forge an ethereal bond born of a long track record of working together including their duo, which is captured on "static still" (gpe records) and Hollenbeck's "quartet Lucy" (CRI). Bleckmann is also a featured vocalist in Hollenbeck's two Large Ensemble recordings, including "a Blessing", which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006.

10 pm - Aaron Ali Shaikh, Michael Formanek, and Randy Peterson
Aaron Ali Shaikh - Alto Saxophone
Michael Formanek - Bass
Randy Peterson - Drums
Appearing for the fifth time in New York, this trio brings together two great veterans with one of the most original saxophone voices of the next generation. With each performance these improvisers probe deeper into the physical and emotional protoplasm that boils beneath all musical form. Shaikh is a recent graduate of the Jazz academic establishment and something of a renegade within the emerging improvising community, due to his singular musical personality. His music is influenced by microtonalism, early Jazz saxophone approaches, the Qawwalis of South Asia and modern improvisation styles. A Cleveland, OH native and the son of Sindhi (Pakistan) immigrant father and European-American mother, Shaikh is at the forefront of the new multi-culturalism emerging in American politics, academia and art.

11:30 pm - Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble
Fusing a mixture of African, Afro-Cuban, Jazz, and Funk music, Akoya Afrobeat is New York’s finest example of a musical melting pot. Featuring members from Panama, Ghana, Benin, South Africa, Japan and the US, this 13-piece ensemble embraces unity and positive vibrations. Armed with original music and an arsenal of songs by Afrobeat founder, Fela Kuti, Akoya consistently brings a new level of dance floor frenzy with every performance. The group features lead vocalist Kaleta, who for 10 years performed and recorded with the immortal Fela Kuti and Egypt 80. He has also toured with Femi Kuti as well as the legendary King Sunny Ade. His vocals, sung in Yoruba, Pidgin English and various Benin dialects, fused with driving horn lines and a precision-tight rhythm section, bring a sound so infectious one can’t help but dance.

Disc of the Day: The Black Crowes, Before the Frost ...

2009-09-10T00:30:00.000-04:00

Here's my rundown on the latest from The Black Crowes, a band that has become one of my favorite rock groups of recent years. A version of this review also was published online (and in print) at Las Vegas City Life. Read it here.

The Black Crowes
Before the Frost ...
(Silver Arrow/Megaforce)

Live, preferably at an intimate venue, is the best way to appreciate the greasy, Southern-fried rock and roll of the Black Crowes, still spreading the gospel of their good-time music nearly 20 years after singer Chris Robinson and guitarist Rich released their platinum-selling debut album.

This time they hedged their bets, recording mostly live in Woodstock, N.Y., in front of a small audience in former Band drummer Levon Helm's barn.

Overall, the sound is looser, more laidback, with blues and Americana elements emphasized a bit more heavily by a lineup benefiting from the boisterous contributions of North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson and original Crowes drummer Steve Gorman.

"Good Morning Captain," flecked with banjo, slide-guitar grunge, honky piano and talk of magnolias, levees and murder, opens the disc with a chugging blast reminiscent of Helm's old group.

The Crowes always have worn their influences on their sleeves, beginning with the open Faces borrowings of their early work. That tendency is evident here with "Been a Long Time (Waiting on Love)" copping CCR's swamp rock, the sweet harmonies and acoustic guitars of "What is Home" nodding to CSN, and "I Ain't Hiding" pointing to the Stones' failed experiments in welding disco thump to guitar crunch.

Disc of the Day: Mike Stern, Big Neighborhood

2009-09-07T23:16:00.003-04:00

Mike Stern's Big Neighborhood is one of the most appealing jazz-rooted guitar recordings of the year (so far).

Below is a version of my review, which appeared in Las Vegas City Life. Here's a link to it.

Mike Stern
Big Neighborhood
(Heads Up)

Journeyman guitar virtuoso Mike Stern, whose breakthrough came via early-80s fusion work with Miles Davis and Jaco Pastorius, has also done time with rock and straight-ahead jazz heavy hitters. Last year, he released a DVD documenting his own quartet's fiery Paris show. When back home, he holds forth in the West Village at the intimate 55 Bar, where he's frequently joined by name musicians.

Stern, equally influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery, is adept at connecting with players from diverse musical backgrounds. That agility serves him well yet again on the guest-jammed Big Neighborhood.

He connects with Medeski Martin and Wood for the greasy-good funk jam "That's All It Is" and "Check One" and goes lick for lick with rock guitarists Steve Vai and Eric Johnson on the bracing title track and "6th Street," respectively.

Cameroon-born electric bassist and singer Richard Bona, a frequent Stern collaborator, drives buoyant West African grooves and provides wordless vocals on "Reach."

And rising-star double bassist Esperanza Spalding, an enchanting singer, dominates three grabbers -- bluesy bebop outing "Coupe De Ville," gorgeous ballad "Bird Blue" and the mellow "Song for Pepper." Stern's playing, throughout, is fluid and fluent, as unpredictable as it is intuitive.

Discs of the Day: Roberta Gambarini, James Moody

2009-09-05T16:06:00.009-04:00

To paraphrase Paul McCartney, what's wrong with silly love songs?

Nothing at all when they're sung with as much passion and grace and artistic commitment as Robert Gambarini demonstrates on So in Love (Decca), the third major studio release from the acclaimed jazz singer.

Gambarini, born in Turin, Italy but based in the U.S. since 1998, takes on love, silly and otherwise, throughout this standards-heavy program on which she's joined by jazz elder statesman James Moody on saxophone, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and rhythm sections variously featuring rising-star pianist Gerald Clayton, bassists George Mraz and Neil Swainson, and drummers Al Foster and Jeff Hamilton (among others).

Speaking of Sir Paul, Gambarini applies her intuitive interpretive skills to a Beatles medley linking a gorgeously laidback "Golden Slumbers" to "Here, There and Everywhere"; both pieces are invigorated with surprising, rich chord substitutions.

Similarly, she brings out all the poignancy of Willie Nelson's "Crazy," rethinking a song popularized by the great Patsy Cline. Here, Gambarini's clear-as-a-bell voice elongates phrases and sinks deep into these lyrics of regret; Hargrove offers gorgeous counterpoint.

Gambarini salutes Cole Porter, one of her favorite composers, with a hushed, intimate version of the title track, on which she's backed only by piano; a mid-tempo "Get Out of Town," which benefits from Moody's tenor ministrations; and a zippy "From This Moment On," featuring a dazzling round of scatting.

Throwaways? I couldn't find any, just assured performances and lively arrangements of familiar gems, including bossa nova classic "Estate," "You Must Believe in Spring" and even "Over the Rainbow."

Heard the talk about Gambarini, how she's THE female jazz singer to watch this year, this decade? Believe the hype.

------------

James Moody has been on the scene since the birth of bebop and, at 84, his prodigious gifts as an improviser seem hardly diminished. For the eight familiar gems heard on 4A (IPO), he's joined by regular colleague Todd Coolman on bass plus pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Lewis Nash for a set of exemplary straight-ahead jazz.

Among the disc's highlights: a heartfelt "'Round Midnight," a very pretty "East of the Sun," a snappy take on Benny Golson's "Stablemates," showcasing Coolman's inventive soloing, and a sneaky waltz-time redesign of "Bye Bye Blackbird."

Willie Does Standards

2009-09-03T21:53:00.002-04:00

Willie Nelson's back, crooning his way through an altogether pleasant set of standards.

Below is my review, as it appears in Las Vegas City Life, and you can also link to it here.

Willie Nelson

American Classic
(Blue Note)

Another year, another Willie Nelson album, or two or three. American Classic, although not quite the history-making effort declared by its title, offers an appealing twist. This time, the aging country outlaw applies his extremely laid-back crooning to another set of the pop standards he's graced every so often since first taking a similar approach on 1978's near-classic Stardust.

The CD, something of a follow-up to Nelson's bluesy collaboration last year with Wynton Marsalis, again matches the singer's warmly familiar vocals with blue-chip jazzers, including pianist Joe Sample, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, with B3 organ and strings added on some tracks. He offers a decidedly lethargic reading of an otherwise jaunty "Fly Me to the Moon" and then turns around and nails the poignancy of a lover's sworn devotion on "Come Rain or Come Shine." And he's playful in the right measure on "Ain't Misbehavin'."

Still, the collection's most memorable tracks features Nelson's pairings with female singers. Nelson's all smooth and suave to Diana Krall's sultry delivery on "If I Had You," and he practically leers his way through a sexy, funny take on winter-weather chestnut "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Only a spoilsport would resist.

Listening Post, Week of Aug. 24, 2009: Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, Willie Nelson, Dafnis Prieto, David Ashkenazy, Squeeze

2009-08-28T07:56:00.000-04:00

Five releases in rotation at home and in the car - a list without comment (in alphabetical order):

David Ashkenazy, Out With It (Posi-Tone, 2009)

Willie Nelson, American Classic (Blue Note, 2009)

Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, The Comet's Tail: Performing the Compositions of Michael Brecker (MAMA, 2009)

Dafnis Prieto Si O Si Quartet, Live at Jazz Standard NYC (Dafnison, 2009)

Squeeze, Piccadilly Collection (A&M, 1996)

Tweeting for the Music: The Jazz You Save May Be Your Own

2009-08-27T21:16:00.001-04:00

Tweeting is for twits, right? After all the first four letters in Twitter are "Twit."

Okay, I don't despise Twitter, or people who Tweet, quite that much. The communications vehicle has demonstrated its worth, I'm told, as a way for artists and organizations to quickly disseminate important information. Twitter makes it easier for journalists to scoop the competition.

At any rate, I'm happy to see Twitter being used to promote one of my favorite causes -- jazz. As explained, below, by magazine writer and book author Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association, jazz listeners can use Twitter to demonstrate the size and enthusiasm of the audience for jazz.

Here's what Howard has to say on the subject:

Is the audience for jazz aging and diminishing, as Terry Teachout wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently? I don't believe it and don't think you buy it completely either, despite the NEA's 2008 survey data. I think that survey overlooked a significant segment of the vital audience for live jazz today, and propose a small social networking experiment, asking tech savvy listeners to tweet #jazzlives, who & where, in 140 characters.

Over the next couple weeks there are myriad big jazz events, starting in NYC the Charlie Parker Jazz Fest is Saturday and Sunday), continuing to the Labor Day weekend fests at Tanglewood, Chicago, Detroit, Aspen, Los Angeles, Vail, Philly, Chapel Hill, etc., then on through Monterey and the Beantown (Boston) fests (we'll keep the campaign going, as long as it works). The music needn't be heard at a fest, of course -- it can be at a stand-along concert, a gig, live-jazz-broadcast on radio or online, in the subway or street, at a party, whatever.

If you Tweet, use hashtag #jazzlives. If you have a Twitter account, please help kick things off TODAY with a tweet that includes #jazzlives, who you heard most recently and where (venue and/or locale). That way, you (or anyone) will be able to track these tweets with a Twitter search and on TweetDeck and similar services. We have created a special "widget" for blogs and websites that will show all #jazzlives tweets in real time-- which is sort of the fun of it for those who like these things, and will collate all the tweets so we can count them, hopefully to prove how many of us there are. If you want the widget, email tweetjazzlives@gmail.com.

MOST BRIEFLY, here's all anyone has to do to participate:

1) Write in a Tweet WHO you heard and WHERE (venue, locale, whatever fits)

2) MOST IMPORTANT: include hashmark #jazzlives.

EXAMPLE: I heard Vanguard Orch at Tanglewood, super! #jazzlives

EXAMPLE: I heard Hank Jones, solo at Detroit Int JF, mighty fine #jazzlives

Include links to your blog or website in your Tweet if you like, like this --

EXAMPLE: I heard Eubanks 5 be great at Blue Note NYC, full revu at www.HowardMandel.com #jazzlives

That's it. These initial tweets will seed the project by getting the #jazzlives out there and giving us some initial content for our widget. We hope this will build to a noticeable surge. Could we get as many tweets and postings as there were people at Woodstock?

Please note: Tweets with #jazzlives are NOT intended to publicize upcoming events or for comments on recordings you're listening to, but rather for reports on LIVE jazz you've actually heard recently. If you heard it live over the radio, that counts!

The widget won't be branded by any group or individual, so it should complement and not compete with your own online social networking work and may help promote that work or local projects. But our initiative's main aim is just to see how we can use new features of social networking to give all styles of jazz -- defined however you want -- a higher profile by showing how many of us listeners to live jazz there are.

Clearwater Jazz Holiday: Al Jarreau

2009-08-26T07:32:00.000-04:00

Word is that Al Jarreau is the artist slated to headline opening night at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, in the slot now listed as "special announcement -- coming soon."

Jarreau is certainly a gifted singer, and his early recordings were strongly rooted in jazz. I remember being knocked out by his version of Chick Corea's "Spain," from Jarreau's album This Time, released in 1989.

But for the majority of his career, Jarreau has worked a fairly bland pop-jazz/contemporary jazz vein. Pretty, but pretty lightweight.

I'd crossed my fingers that, at least for the headlining act on opening night, the Jazz Holiday might have booked a major jazz artist -- Sonny Rollins, anyone?

Not gonna happen. Sigh (again).

Clearwater Jazz Holiday Lineup Announced: Yawn

2009-08-25T07:37:00.005-04:00

Did you hear the one about the long-running jazz festival that celebrated its 30th anniversary with a full slate of major, legendary players?

Sadly, that's not the story with the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, which, for its 30th anniversary, could have, should have, celebrated the great American art form known as jazz.

Instead, the Holiday chose, for its Saturday night headliner, silky sax guy Boney James, whose music is located just a few steps above the dreaded Kenny G. in terms of jazz credibility. And for Friday night's headliner, a guy cut from the same cloth: showy trumpeter Chris Botti.

Yep, smooth jazz -- wake me up when it's over -- again rules the day at the Jazz Holiday, during a year when hopes were raised that the festival could have returned to its status as one of the Tampa Bay area's premiere cultural events.

It's almost as if the folks planning these lineups can't tell the difference between "contemporary jazz" -- prefab, bland, predictable -- and the real thing. Or, worse, that they don't care.

Sunday night it's the Neville Brothers - funky, jazzy, soulful, grooving, always a great time. I love the Nevilles. But, again, they don't constitute actual jazz.

Earlier that day, hawk-eyed observers will be able to find a patch of actaul straightahead acoustic jazz, with a performance by gifted Florida-based pianist Marcus Roberts' trio, with a New Orleans rhythm section -- bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis.

That trio's set will be followed by a performance by a truly amazing upright and electric bassist, Brian Bromberg, whose concerts tend to focus on the contemporary jazz side of what he does.

It's nice to see the bill include some good local players -- groups led by percussionist extraordinaire Gumbi Ortiz, trombonist Tom Brantley, and saxophonist Mike MacArthur and guitarist Nate Najar, to name a few.

The Jazz Holiday promises to be a relaxing weekend with pleasant tunes and nice breezes on the downtown Clearwater waterfront.

But by no stretch of the imagination is it a major jazz festival, a 30th-anniversary bash celebrating the history of an event that, over the years, has featured legendary artists -- Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Stephane Grappelli, Nat Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Poncho Sanchez, Stan Getz, Buddy Rich, and Woody Herman.

It could have been so much more. Sigh.

Here's the lineup:
Thursday, October 15th
5:00pm Gates Open
5:30pm to 6:30pm Tom Brantley Collective
7:00pm to 8:00pm Mike MacArthur & Nate Najar
8:30pm to 10:00pm Special Announcement - Coming Soon

Friday, October 16th
4:00pm Gates Open
5:00pm to 6:00pm
The Organic Trio
6:30pm to 7:30pm
Joe Baione Quartet
8:00pm to 9:00pm Nicole Henry
9:30pm to 11:00pm Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns, LLP welcomes Chris Botti

Saturday, October 17th
2:30pm Gates Open
3:15pm to 4:30pm Gumbi Ortiz and the Latino Projekt
5:00pm to 6:15pm Les Sabler
6:45pm to 8:30pm Clearwater Jazz Holiday 30th Anniversary EXTREME Tribute
9:00pm to 10:30pm MarineMax welcomes Boney James
10:30pm Fireworks presented by Homeowners Choice, Inc.

Sunday, October 18th
2:00pm Gates Open
2:30pm to 3:30pm Ruth Eckerd Hall / Clearwater Jazz Holiday Youth Jazz Band with BK Jackson
4:00pm to 5:30pm Marcus Roberts Trio
6:00pm to 7:30pm Brian Bromberg's "IT IS WHAT IT IS" Band
8:00pm to 10:00pm Mercedes-Benz welcomes The Neville Brothers

Tarantino's Head: Village Voice interview

2009-08-25T07:01:00.000-04:00

Quentin Tarantino is one of a handful of directors whose every movie amounts to a major event in the world of cinema.

Inglourious Basterds is no exception.

The filmmaker -- still brash, still strikingly original -- opens up to Village Voice writer Ella Taylor in a feature interview published last week.

On his favorite movies of all time: "I can tell you now. This got picked up on from [your] piece for the next five years, those top three in particular: Taxi Driver, Blow Out, and Rio Bravo. I've changed. I know I was cagey about it before, but my favorite movie of all time is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That's the best movie ever made. I can't even imagine myself doing better; that's how much I love it. I would also throw His Girl Friday in there. The fifth will always be however I feel at the moment. So I'll throw in Carrie, give De Palma a shout-out."

Here's the long Q&A.

Terence Blanchard, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (NOLA)

2009-08-14T15:27:00.004-04:00

Great recording from NPR, with Terence's latest quintet doing material from his forthcoming Choices CD, at the Ogden Museum.

Click here to listen.

R.I.P., Les Paul

2009-08-13T13:28:00.003-04:00

Beyond his impact on the electric guitar and electric guitarists, Les Paul was responsible for a sea change in music production -- he essentially invented multitrack recording.

Paul died Thursday night at age 94.

I really regret never catching any of the Monday-night sessions he held at New York jazz clubs Iridium and, before that, Fat Tuesdays. Star rock and jazz guitarists were among the sit-in guests at those shows. My sad excuse for never making it: Every time I visited New York, including my trips to cover the 2005-07 conferences of the late, great IAJE, I'd come in on a Wednesday or Thursday and leave on a Sunday.

On a long-ago trip to New York, my friends Domenick, Lennie and Joe and I ran into Paul on 14th Street, home to several musical instrument stores. I'm pretty sure that Dom got a picture with Paul. Gracious guy.

AP story here here.

N.Y. Times

NYT obit (Jon Pareles)

CNN

NME

The Goods & The Time Traveler's Wife (movie reviews)

2009-08-13T09:16:00.007-04:00

I made it out to two movie screenings this week, and reviewed both films for Las Vegas City Life.

Generally speaking, my expectations were met:

I'm not exactly part of the target audience for the romantically inclined The Time Traveler's Wife (review here), starring Eric Bana's buttocks and Rachel McAdams' infectious smile.

And The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (review here), not unlike The Hangover, is funnier than anyone might have expected, although the presence of the reliably manic and riotous Jeremy Piven, of HBO's "Entourage," probably offered a clue as to the over-the-top brand of comedy on display in the new movie. Both of the latter films, by the way, feature cast members from The Hangover -- Ed Helms of "The Office," still the funniest thing on television, and Ken Jeong.

Here's the "director's cut" (longer version) of my review of The Goods:

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
Stars Jeremy Piven and Ving Rhames.
Directed by Neal Brennan.

Movies about used-car salesmen by definition are all about the hard sell, and that goes for manipulative directors as well as the sleazy characters populating the scripts. It's an approach that holds true at least all the way back to Jack Warden's battling identical twin car-lot owners in Robert Zemeckis's determinedly wacky Used Cars, in 1980, and, a decade later, Roger Donaldson's overeager Cadillac Man, which injected an armed, jealous husband into the mix. The prospect of watching slick salesmen cajole consumers into trading their cash for clunkers always brings out the zany in filmmakers.

The Goods, the feature-film directorial debut from Neal Brennan ("Chappelle's Show"), is no exception. It's jammed to overflowing with gay-panic sequences and purposely politically incorrect jokes made at the expense of Asians, the mentally infirm, obese people, the elderly, boy bands, relatives of the rich and famous, and other easy targets.

All the gags are delivered at lightning speed. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, and many are D.O.A. Female nudity is plentiful, and sexual innuendo rains early and often. The overexposed Will Ferrell, one of the film's exec producers, even pops by for an inspired bit as an angel with mutton chops, whose every utterance is echoed and commented on by a pair of soul-singing female angels in tow. Did I mention the dildos falling from the sky, the alligators on the loose, the Uncle Sam on stilts?

Ben Selleck (James Brolin), the tanned, silver-haired owner of a failing California car dealership, recruits a quartet of mercenary super salesmen, led by Don Ready (Jeremy Piven), to save the operation from extinction. The aptly named Ready and his multiracial, coed team (Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn) are rude, crude, aggressive, and results-driven, and they vow to sell all of the dealership's 211 cars over the July 4th weekend.

Will Ready fall in love with Ben's cute blonde daughter Ivy (Jordana Spiro)? Will her ditzy husband-to-be (Ed Helms) muck up the works and assume ownership of the lot, along with his slick dad (Alan Thicke)? These are the burning questions.

-----------
Here's my review of The Time Traveler's Wife:

The Time Traveler's Wife
Stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.
Directed by Robert Schwentke.

Adapted from the popular romance novel of the same name, The Time Traveler's Wife raises myriad metaphysical questions, including these, unexplored by the film but suggested by a closing sequence: If a time-tripping man were to travel to a point some years beyond his death, and made physical contact with his still-grieving wife, would he be able to impregnate her? And would the resultant child be a human, or a ghost?

The logic of the movie, penned by Bruce Joel Rubin, the same screenwriter who explored a frustrating beyond-the-grave love affair in Ghost, and directed by Robert Schwenke (Flightplan), isn't quite airtight. But the script does stay true to the rules guiding its time trekker, Henry (Eric Bana): 1) He can freefall through the time-space continuum at a moment's notice. 2) When visiting the past, he can't change the future, so there's no "butterfly effect." 3) He can't bring his clothes on his journeys, the better for Bana to show his naked backside, repeatedly.

In another story, the sci-fi element would be the entire focus. Here, though, the time jumping is designed merely to complicate and intensify the love affair between Henry, a research librarian in Chicago, and visual artist Clare (Rachel McAdams). She's known him all her life, because, as a child, Clare was regularly visited by the much older Henry, who knew that she would one day marry him.

Despite that slightly creepy set-up, and Henry's comically frequent vanishings -- one moment he's there, the next he's vanished, leaving a pile of clothes behind -- Schwenke manages to push the narrative along with enough urgency to draw viewers into the drama. Bana is starry eyed, McAdams is dewy, the kids are cute, and supporting actors Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard and Stephen Tobolowsky perform admirably. Profoundly moving? No. Entertaining? Close enough.

Crime Fiction Gets Some Respect; But Why Did Newsweek Leave Out Elmore Leonard?

2009-08-11T08:04:00.002-04:00

If Newsweek calls it a trend, does that mean it's all over?

I'm not sure when, exactly, I developed an interest in all things crime fiction and film noir. But my passion for those corners of pop culture certainly intensified several years ago, when I wrote an essay on the three adaptations of "The Killers," a Hemingway short story. I presented the paper at the Hemingway Conference in Key West, in 2004, and the piece was later published in January 2007 Literature/Film Quarterly.*

At any rate, I've steadily continued accelerating my consumption of crime fiction, and in recent months I've relished Richard Price's "Lush Life" and "Samaritan," Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island," Denis Johnson's "Nobody Move," and a pile of books by Elmore Leonard, including "Out of Sight" and "Killshot," both of which were made into movies. IMO, Leonard has cornered the market on lively, believable tough-guy dialogue. Nobody does it better.

It's encouraging to see Newsweek toasting the recent spate of crime novels by established crime writers as well as authors better known for literary fiction; the latter group includes Johnson and Thomas Pynchon ("Inherent Vice").

"Writers such as James Ellroy, Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, Donald Westlake, Walter Mosley, Laura Lippman, James Sallis, Megan Abbott, and George Pelecanos have managed to infuse crime novels with a quality of writing not seen since the days of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and James M. Cain ...," Malcolm Jones writes in the Newsweek feature. "Those authors from the '30s and '40s would surely be proud to keep company with the best writers in their field today.

"It might also tickle them to see that crime stories—especially those in the noir genre, where you can't tell the good guys from the bad and where hope and happy endings are the first things tossed overboard—have made it into the American literary pantheon," Jones writes.

"The Library of America devotes multiple volumes to the work of Chandler, Hammett, and assorted other noir novelists, as well as a true-crime anthology. Black Lizard paperbacks showcase classics in these adjacent genres, and Hard Case Crime publishes a splendid line of reprints, forgotten gems, and new work, all boasting wonderfully lurid cover art (half-clad dames, snarling gangsters, and guns going off all over the place) inspired by old paperbacks. But what might most surprise the old masters is the number of A-list literary authors who are invading their territory."

Jones also praises some of the '30s and '40s authors, including Patricia Highsmith ("Strangers on a Train," the "Ripley" books) and Jim Thompson, whose books I've sought out in recent years.

"In this country, these writers were the Rodney Dangerfields of literature, ignored by American critics and serious readers until years after they were dead," he writes. "But their best work possessed a rude vitality and a persuasive sense of doom, not to mention heists, shootouts, and snappy dialogue that were clearly the envy of authors who got better reviews."

So if Jones rightfully praises the above qualities, then WHY did he fail to include Leonard in this piece? That's the kind of unthinking oversight that, frankly, puts into question everything else he has to say.

What's more, Jones rather unfairly bashes Norman Mailer's "Tough Guys Don't Dance," calling it "a mess" (my read: it's fun, funny, quirky; the Mailer-directed movie adaptation, though, indeed was awful), and puts Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" in the category of "his worst novel." No, it's not.

Jones plain gets it wrong when he writes that Johnson "never gets it quite right" with "Nobody Move."

So ... nice recognition of a fiction genre that still doesn't get the respect it deserves. But don't take Jones' judgments as the gospel.

*(What do you know? You can buy the piece online at Amazon for $9.95 And, no, I don't get a cut. Or, heck, just see it for free online at this posting I came across recently. I don't know who Script Girl is, but I'm guessing that Salisbury University isn't too happy that the journal's content is posted.

Guitars 'R Us: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White Star in Music Doc

2009-08-10T08:08:00.001-04:00

Music documentaries too often tend to serve as glorified trailers for an artist's latest CD or tour, released in a manner designed to get those (product) units moving.

So it's refreshing to hear news of a forthcoming documentary that's aimed to probe musical mysteries regarding evolving approaches to the art and science of guitar playing and songwriting.

That seems to be what's afoot in It Might Get Loud, a film that brings together Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's Dave "The Edge" Evans" and Jack White of the White Stripes for an extended bull session and musical give and take.

"The guitarists’ summit meeting, as Mr. Guggenheim called it, is the kind of serious aesthetic discussion that traveling rock stars rarely have time to experience, backstage or elsewhere," Davis told New York Times writer Jon Pareles, in a story published Sunday.

"Together before the cameras they trade shoptalk and learn one another’s songs, and they find common ground or civilly disagree about notions like the use and abuse of technology."

Check out the trailer here.

The movie, directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), opens this week in New York and Los Angeles.

A Perfect Getaway (movie review)

2009-08-07T09:34:00.004-04:00

(This review was also published in Jacksonville's Folio Weekly, and it's posted here).

A Perfect Getaway
Stars Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich; directed by David Twohy; Rated R; 97 minutes

Action thrillers, not unlike romantic comedies, amount to cinematic junk food.

Viewers know what to expect, and usually get it: Attractive people, preferably a couple, unexpectedly find themselves on the run from one or more enemies that are dangerous but are usually gracious enough to let the stars live. Supporting players, though, aren't always so fortunate.

Given the multiple twists in "A Perfect Getaway," it's tempting to believe that writer-director David Twohy ("Below," "Pitch Black") has subverted the form.

But, really, that would be giving the filmmaker more credit than he's due. Why? The big reveal is so patently ridiculous, and doesn't really work out logically; one ensuing development even elicited chuckles during the advance screening. It's a good thing that Twohy manages to create palpable tension during the first three-quarters of the movie, because the last act -- a chase, bolstered with a gaudy if rather pointless split-screen sequence, followed by a big, bloody finish -- is literally and figuratively downhill.

It wouldn't be fair to relate how Twohy attempts to upend expectations. But it might be helpful to describe the paths he doesn't take. Despite the set-up, a honeymooning couple's visit to Hawaii and their journey to a gorgeous secluded beach, the story doesn't proceed in the direction of straight-up slasher movie or torture porn, or even a nature-strikes-back horror fest, ala "The Ruins."

The terror in "A Perfect Getaway" instead is more believable if nonetheless frightening. Freshly married screenwriter Cliff (Steve Zahn) and his new bride Cydney (Milla Jovovich) have just arrived in the Hawaiian Islands, and they soak up the awe-dropping natural beauty of the hills and lush greenery during the travelogue-worthy first few minutes of the movie.

Their idyll is rocked when they get news about the brutal murders of a honeymooning couple, on the island of Oahu. Against their better judgment, they decide to stick to their plans to take the long backwoods trek -- first by jeep, then by foot -- along the beautiful but somewhat treacherous Kalalau Trail, on Kauai. Debating whether to pick up a pair of tough-looking hitchhikers, Cliff quips, "Nothing bad ever happens in Hawaii."

"A Perfect Getaway" offers no shortage of clues and coincidences and/or red herrings, including those hitchhikers (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton), who are either Manson Family wannabes or merely rough around the edges.

Cliff and Cydney next encounter another loving couple, from the South, Gina (Kiele Sanchez) and Nick (Timothy Olyphant). She's sort of a twang-talking Southern belle gone bad, while he's a slightly loony Gulf War vet with a steel plate in his head and a penchant for wacky talk about his derring-do: "You're a screenwriter, I'm a Jedi," Nick tells Cliff. "We chose different paths." The four, despite mutual misgivings, seem to bond.

One character mentions the phrase "red herring," and another makes a reference to murder-spree thriller "Natural Born Killers," and Cliff and Nick engage in loose talk about the best way to structure and title a screenplay.

But any viewer determined to solve the mystery early is advised not to take these or other clues at face value. It's probably best not to take anything else about Twohy's movie too seriously either, since the conclusion is such a rapid descent into silliness. On the plus side, the getting there offers plenty of tension, and these characters -- variously nerdy, scary, cocky, flaky, and sexy -- are more than adequately entertaining.

James Singleton, in Bass Player mag

2009-08-03T12:06:00.010-04:00

My love affair with the rootsy, hard-grooving, highly creative bass playing of James Singleton has been going on practically as long as my love affair with New Orleans music.

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to hear James play with Astral Project, organist Robert Walter, The Trio with Skerik, and the bassist's own groups - frequently at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I've also had the chance to get to know James, and this year at Jazz Fest we finally connected on a bass lesson.

I spoke with James recently for the purposes of a short piece that appears in the August issue of Bass Player mag. Check it out here. The photo is one I took at this year's Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

Read the full text, below:

James Singleton On Tradition & Texture

What are your main priorities as a composer, and how do you address them?
Texture, dynamics, and orchestration are my big issues right now. I’m dealing with them by hiring multiinstrumentalists to play in my small ensembles.

You’ve cited a debt to early New Orleans bassists like Bill Johnson and Steve Brown. What impact have they had on your playing?
It was their use of different textures that stood out to me. Even on the very earliest recordings, they’re using a bow, and they’re slapping. In a way, I feel I’m part of that lineage—it’s one of the biggest foundations of my style. I took that knowledge and tried to combine it with my perception of Bootsy Collins and Larry Graham to come up with some of my compositions.

How has that background come into play on gigs?
I was once on a gig with Donald Harrison, Willie Tee, and Herlin Riley where they spontaneously went into New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tunes. Without thinking, I knew exactly what to do.

What happens, rhythmically, in that kind of music?
It’s a way of playing in a rhythm section where there’s a continuous flow of ideas, but they don’t interfere with the groove. It’s similar to Cuban music, where the bass player sometimes plays rhythmic patterns, but doesn’t have to. He can play lyrically, but still with that pulse.

HEAR HIM ON
Astral Project, Blue Streak (astralproject.com,2008); James Singleton String Quartet, Gold Bug Crawl (James Singleton, 2008); Robert Walter, Cure All (Palmetto, 2008); Irma Thomas, Simply Grand (Palmetto, 2008)

GEAR
Bass early-1900s e-size upright bass, purchased in pieces at an antique store and rebuilt by New Orleans luthier Salvador Giardina

Strings
Thomastik Spirocore mediums

Rig
Vintage Schertler pickup, 300- watt Walter Woods amp with Epifani UL-210 and Epifani UL-115 cabs

Effects
Ibanez Tube Screamer, EBS OctaBass octave, Boss GEB-7 Bass Equalizer, Line 6 DL4 Delay, Boss RV-3 Reverb/Delay

The Ugly Truth (Film Review)

2009-07-30T20:40:00.001-04:00

This one's late arriving, as I was waiting for it to post elsewhere first...

The Ugly Truth

Stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, directed by Robert Luketic. 96 minutes. Rated R.

Men are from caves, but even smart and relatively enlightened women can learn to appreciate the lovable apes. Hell, it's practically a beauty's duty to love a beast. Ultimately, she stands to gain untold emotional, spiritual and, yes, physical satisfaction from the arrangement, no matter what it all looks like from the outside.

Those are the convoluted messages -- delivered by a trio of female screenwriters, no less -- of The Ugly Truth, a high-concept, low-payoff romantic comedy that seems to want to have it both ways. The slight and only fitfully entertaining movie knocks misogyny and stereotyping while simultaneously reveling in a steady stream of misogynistic behavior and stereotypes. The tightly wound, workaholic career girl who won't get what she wants until she makes herself over according to the specifications of a He Man? Check. The male chauvinist pig who's redeemed, and just in time, by his sensitive soul? Yep. Firm-bodied bikini babes wrestling in Jell-O? But of course.

Katherine Heigl, who last learned to love a lug in Knocked Up, is the cute but oddly repressed and dateless Abby Richter, producer of a Sacramento morning show; she spends early evenings going on blind dates, where she brings along lists of talking points. The show, and her life, are hopelessly shaken up when local cable-access host Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) brings his pointedly sexist and provocative ramblings to Abby's show, over her objections. For his very first segment, he manages to patch up the relationship between the show's married hosts, as played by the scenery-chewing John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines -- in no time flat, they go from hateful to horny.

Two or three convenient story turns later, and screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith (Legally Blonde) and Nicole Eastman have borrowed from Cyrano de Bergerac: Abby somehow decides that she needs Mike's relationship advice in order to win the heart of the model-pretty orthopedist next door (Eric Winter). So, earpiece in place, she sets out on dates with the doc, and speaks the words that Mike whispers in her ear. Complications, mostly unfunny, ensue. So does a wardrobe makeover -- from prim to slutty.

For good measure, director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) throws in an embarrassing moment at a major-league baseball game, and an orgasm scene in a restaurant that owes a thing or two to Meg Ryan's contortions in When Harry Met Sally -- this time, vibrating panties and a remote-control device figure into the fun. Heigl and Butler ("P.S. I Love You"), gifted and watchable actors both, give off occasional flashes of good chemistry; too bad they're defeated, time and again, by a decidedly soggy script.

Most annoyingly, The Ugly Truth, brandishing naughty words like weapons, masquerades as edgy fare, pretending to offer something new and illuminating to those audiences, you know, sophisticated enough to deal with corking great insights regarding the gender wars. The ugly truth is that Luketic's movie is about as fresh as the battle of the sexes, circa the '70s, and Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Can we handle it? Well, yeah, and we did, long ago. This film is the new twist?

Miles versus Hemingway

2009-07-29T07:06:00.003-04:00

As far as I know, jazz legend Miles Davis (1926-1991) and literary giant Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) never crossed paths. They certainly didn't travel in the same circles.

Hemingway, while likely exposed to early jazz during his time in Paris and later, wasn't known to be a devotee of jazz, and Miles wasn't an advocate of literature.

But, on the occasion of what would have been Hemingway's 110th birthday (July 21) and the recent "controversy" over the revised version of his A Moveable Feast, I was thinking about the parallels between the two artists.

There are several surface similarities, including the fact that both were born in suburbs of Chicago -- Miles in Alton, Ill., and Hemingway in Oak Park, Ill. -- to medical professionals. Miles' father was a dentist, and Hemingway's was a doctor. Both achieved great artistic goals without the benefit of degrees in higher education - Miles dropped out of the Juilliard School of Music, and Hemingway never attended college.

Both loved boxing, and both engaged in the sport, with mixed results. They both nurtured tough-guy personas, something I thought about again after reading, in Denis Brian's The True Gen, that Hem hurt himself repeatedly "as if testing his endurance or immunity to pain" (5).

Neither suffered fools gladly -- whether journalists, hangers-on, or untalented artists. They both loved women: Hem married four times, and Miles three.

Both fought depression, and both self-medicated - Hemingway with alcohol, Miles with alcohol, cocaine and heroin.

And the trumpeter and the writer both, to varying degrees, engaged in myth making, in creating various masks behind which the real humans were somewhat hard to ascertain.

Who was the real Miles? Who was the real Hemingway? Possibilities: 1)Depends on who you ask 2)Depends on which chapter of their lives you consider 3)Who knows?

Both were innovators, and hugely influenced the musicians and writers that followed.

Last but not least, "a lot of Miles Davis" music is on President Obama's iPod, while he includes Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls on the list of books that have most inspired him.

The most important parallel between Hemingway and Miles, and the place where I started down this path, was in their use of "space" in their respective work - Hemingway's strategy of using the least words needed to convey any particular scene or story (a writing style rooted in his work as a journalist), and Miles' use of few notes, to convey great emotion.

Hemingway's approach was built on the iceberg principle - provide the basics, and leave it to the reader to fill in the multiple meanings of each passage. As he described it, "I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg."

Miles, similarly, particularly after his bebop period, reveled in music with wide open spaces, and solos that contained long notes and pauses. Just as Hemingway "left out" details that other writers might have filled in, Miles became expert at using the sound of silence as another element in his solos, his band performances, and his recordings.

These are my initial thoughts on this subject. More to come later.

Sad/Scary Movie News: Transformers 2 One of Top 10 Biggest Movies

2009-07-27T13:35:00.003-04:00

Thanks to another big weekend, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, one of the worst movies of this or any other year, is now the 10th biggest movie in U.S. box-office history. It supplanted The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the same position, according to reports.

The film's domestic box-office tally so far, according to the site Box Office Mojo: $379 million. Worldwide box-office: $785 million+

The overlong Michael Bay metal-on-metal knockdown, replete with wooden acting and a stinky script, has landed in the Top 10 in other categories:

The movie grossed $126 million in its first three days, making it the film with the fourth-highest opening of all time.

Ten days ago, the Transformers sequel became the biggest box-office hit in Chinese history, pushing out Titanic. Read more here.

And it's one of worst-reviewed blockbusters. Ever. For evidence, check out the critics' ratings at Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic.

Titanic ($600 million+) remains the biggest movie to be released in the U.S., followed by The Dark Knight ($533 million+) and Star Wars ($460 million+). For the complete list, click here.

So does this mean that there's sure to be even more overblown movies featuring ginormous robots and huge explosions and clueless young actresses in skimpy clothes? But of course, starting but likely not stopping with a second sequel.

Even worse, given the fact that there are now slots for 10 movies in the Best Picture category, and the fact that NARAS really needs big ratings for next year's Oscars, it's entirely possible that Transformers 2 will pick up a bagful of nominations, including one for BP.

Why? To pull in some of those Transfomers 2 fans, naturally. Another reason: The "controversy" over the nomination will bring even more attention to the Oscars.

Could Bay's all-spectacle-all-the-time movie actually win? Depends on how many ways the vote is split.

Scribe Life Notches 20,000 Hits

2009-07-27T13:26:00.004-04:00

I'm happy to report that Scribe Life has hit - and passed - the 20,000 mark: This blog, in operation for about three years, has attracted over 20,000 hits.

Along the way, I've taken some detours, including temporarily splitting my arts coverage into two different blogs (one for movies, one for music). But not long ago, sanity prevailed, and I again decided to put it all into one blog.

So ... thanks for reading!

Trio Vibe Makes TBT

2009-07-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

I'm late on the uptake with this, but ... I want to point regular readers of this blog to a piece on my band, Trio Vibe, written by Julie Garisto of TBT, the daily tab affiliated with the St. Petersburg Times.

Here's the story.

Julie did a nice job capturing what our group, a trio with vibraphone (Sam Koppelman), bass (me) and drums (Dave Hamar) is all about.

And, after a while away, it was great to be back with Trio Vibe, playing this past weekend at Della's in Brandon. We return to Della's for shows the first weekend of October, and first weekend of November.

Vonnegut: Back From the Dead With New Stories

2009-07-23T17:11:00.003-04:00

Vonnegut lives!

Kurt Vonnegut fans have reason to celebrate, as 14 of the late novelist's unpublished short stories are being released as "e-books," according to a story written by Dave Itzkoff and published Wednesday in the New York Times.

"Hello Red," the first of the stories from the author, who died in 2007, will be available Aug. 25, with "The Petrified Ants" to follow on Sept. 29.

Look at the Birdie, a new hardcover collection of Vonnegut's short stories, will be published Oct. 20 by Delacorte Press.

"In a statement Nita Taublib, the editor in chief of the Bantam Dell unit of Random House, which includes Delacorte, and Kerri Buckley, an editor there, said the collection was assembled by comparing annotated drafts provided by the Vonnegut estate," according to Itzkoff.

Borders: Out With the CDs and DVDs, In With "Twilight" Books and Other Stuff for Teens

2009-07-22T16:44:00.003-04:00

Tooling around my local Borders Books and Music the other day, with my young daughter in tow, I was shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- by how extensively the selection of DVDs and CDs has been cut back.

At that store, just north of Kennedy on Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, those sections have been chopped back by two-thirds or more.

My daughter was upset that, in the few remaining rows of CDs, the headphone-listening stations have been removed. As far back as I can remember, both of my kids, now 13 and almost 10, have enjoyed sampling new and old music via those stations at Borders. Now, they're gone.

I was shocked, but not really surprised by the store's nuking of movies and music.

Why? Because all the industry stats point to huge declines in the sales of DVDs and CDs, at Borders, Best Buy and practically everywhere else.

Consumers increasingly are getting their music via downloads, and movie lovers have more and more options to find what they want online and through offerings on pay cable (in addition to options like renting through NetFlix and Red Box).

Maybe I'm part of the problem, when it comes to sales of music and DVDs at bookstores: I've always viewed those items, at those places, as always overpriced, practically as high as similar items in malls.

So whenever I want to buy new CDs, I try to buy at independent stores, like Vinyl Fever. And the majority of my DVD buying has been done online.

Now here comes news regarding Borders' strategy for filling up the space vacated by all those DVDs and CDs: "Borders Ink" sections, devoted to teen-oriented items - graphic novels, fantasy, and young-adult titles - will be open in up to 90 percent of the chain's 513 superstores by the end of August.

The new departments will also include promotional items - pencil cases, bookmarks, etc. - that are tie-ins with the "Twilight" vampire books and other popular series.

That's according to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal.

Why is this happening now? Big cash potential, of course.

"At a time when book retailing is slumping, young-adult titles and graphic novels are still delivering growth," according to the story. "Albert N. Greco, a professor at the Fordham University's Graduate School of Business Administration who studies the book industry, estimates that young-adult fiction, fantasy and science fiction will generate $744.3 million in U.S. publisher revenue this year, up 13% from $659.1 million in 2008. That compares with U.S. publisher revenue of an estimated $9.73 billion for consumer books as a whole, a 4.7% decline from 2008's sales, according to Mr. Greco."

So, the good news: Teens, apparently, haven't given up their reading habit, despite the hype to the contrary.

The bad news, aside from stores getting rid of stuff I really like - CDs and DVDs - is the advent of e-books.

What effect, ultimately, will that have on "real" books - you know, the ink-on-print kind?

And what impact will the price of e-books - $10 or so - have on the price of print books, and, ultimately, on how much publishers make, and the earnings potential for authors?

Those concerns are fodder for another type of column, another day.

John Medeski's Recovering From Illness; MMW's Remaining European Dates Canceled

2009-07-20T07:01:00.005-04:00

UPDATE:

Here's the official statement on John Medeski's illness, as provided by MMW's publicist. My original post follows.

"While on tour overseas in early July, John began experiencing flu-like
symptoms, and very severe headaches. He was seen by doctors in Croatia,
Slovenia, and finally in Austria, where he was admitted to the University of Innsbruck Hospital on July 5. It was determined that John was fighting a severe bacterial infection and experiencing cluster headache symptoms. On July 6, the doctors advised us that John could not continue with the tour. After 150+ tests, MRIs, pain management protocols, antibiotics, and 3 days of excellent care in the University hospital, no one could identify John零 infection.

On July 7, John checked out of the hospital to rest in a hotel until he was strong enough to travel home. Though the infection has still not been identified, he零 currently in treatment here in the US, and doing MUCH better. His headaches have subsided, and while not 100%, he零 functioning very well.

Needless to say, we're glad to have John back and feeling better as the band looks forward to Camp and upcoming shows this fall."

-----original post-----
Medeski Martin and Wood has canceled the remainder of the jazz/jam trio's summer shows in Europe, announcing on the MMW web site that the change of plans is "due to illness ... we hope to reschedule these dates."

More specific details came by way of a press release, apparently from the promoter of the Galapajazz festival in Madrid, that wound up on the message board of the band's site. MMW had been scheduled to play that fest on July 9.

The note, below, suggests that keyboardist/organist/EFX guy John Medeski is experiencing a serious health problem.

Here's hoping that the gifted keys man has a speedy and complete recovery, and that MMW is back in action before long. MMW, for a long time, has been one of my favorite live acts - Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood offer up a funky, jazzy, jam-oriented, avant-leaning mix of grooves and tunes that, on the group's best nights, is more creative than practically any other band out there.

MMW's next round of tour dates are slated to start Sept. 11, with a performance with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, at the Mann Music Center in Philly.

I'll post more details here when I get them.

Here's the note, apparently sent by promoter Galapajazz to ticket holders and fans (Spanish-language version of this release is posted here):

"Galapajazz suffered a last-minute change. It is the unexpected suspension of the tour of the U.S. trio Medeski, Martin and Wood who had planned to perform at the Teatro Jacinto Benavente on Thursday July 9.

An emergency medical John Medeski has compelled to take this step after that, after his arrival in Europe would be affected by an occipital nerve neuralgia with facial paralysis.

After the relevant medical tests, Medeski has let his inability to continue with the tour this summer that it would lead to scenarios of Austria, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain, where Jaen Galapagar and were the only two places where I had planned act."

According to the National Institutes of Health, occipital nerve neuralgia is not a life-threatening condition. The condition "is a distinct type of headache characterized by piercing, throbbing, or electric-shock-like chronic pain in the upper neck, back of the head, and behind the ears, usually on one side of the head. Typically, the pain of occipital neuralgia begins in the neck and then spreads upwards. Some individuals will also experience pain in the scalp, forehead, and behind the eyes. Their scalp may also be tender to the touch, and their eyes especially sensitive to light." For more info on the condition, click here.

Andrew Sarris - the Auteurist in Autumn

2009-07-17T16:25:00.004-04:00

Remember when film criticism was a blood sport?

Michael Powell's great piece on Andrew Sarris, aging defender of the auteur theory of film criticism, ran in last Sunday's New York Times.

Back in the day, Sarris did battle, in print and sometimes in person, with the likes of John Simon and Pauline Kael.

“We were so gloriously contentious, everyone bitching at everyone,” said Andrew Sarris, 81, nattily attired in gray slacks and a blue sport jacket, his hair slicked back. “We all said some stupid things, but film seemed to matter so much.”

...

"In his first review for The Voice in 1960, of “Psycho,” he threw down the gauntlet in service of a commercial director, Alfred Hitchcock. Mr. Sarris was characteristically assertive. “Hitchcock is the most daring avant-garde filmmaker in America today,” he wrote. “Besides making previous horror films look like variations of ‘Pollyanna,’ ‘Psycho’ is overlaid with a richly symbolic commentary on the modern world as a public swamp in which human feelings and passions are flushed down the drain.” "

Read more here.

Veteran Music Writer Eric Snider Laid Off from Tampa's Creative Loafing

2009-07-15T10:21:00.007-04:00

I read the news today, oh boy.

Eric Snider, longtime writer and music columnist at Creative Loafing in Tampa, has been let go. I learned about it this morning on St. Petersburg Times TV/media critic Eric Deggans' blog. Read the post here.

What a travesty.

Snider is one of the area's most talented and most accomplished arts & entertainment writers. He's been covering music, and covering it well, longer than anyone else in the Tampa Bay area.

Unlike some other pop music critics, Eric has always gone beyond the pop ju dour and celebrity nonsense to dig into music that's more meaningful and has a longer shelf life than the hits of the day.

And, like the best critics, he has a wide range of interests - not just altrock, not just pop, not just hip-hop, not just classic rock, but all of those and more, including jazz, blues, Americana and world music.

That's an appropriate approach to music coverage. Why? Because readers who care about music, particularly the 40+ readers (you know, the ones who still buy newspapers?) want to read about more than the Jonas Brothers or Kanye West.

Eric's eclectic, insightful approach has been true of his writing going all the way back to his days at the old Music Magazine (where I first encountered Eric) and through his work as the pop music critic at the St. Pete Times and CL. He's also done some great features for Jazziz magazine.

First film critic Lance Goldenberg, then music writer Wade Tatangelo and now Eric. ???

If there's a strategy afoot here, it has nothing to do with retaining top talent and providing quality content to readers.

It's disappointing that newspapers (daily and weekly papers) increasingly are placing such a low priority on hiring and keeping journalists with valuable writing and reporting experience, and deep knowledge of their beats.

Yes, there are short-term savings to be had, when those positions aren't filled or are filled by less experienced, less capable journalists who can be had on the cheap.

For the long term, though, this upside-down staffing approach hurts readers, and, ultimately, newspapers. It results in publications that are more generic, more devoid of substance, and less relevant to the lives of consumers.

Fewer readers, and the advertisers go away. No advertisers, and the papers sink.

Why is all this so hard for newspaper publishers and managers to grasp?

CL's apologies, excuses, reasons, etc., related to the firing are available here. It was "an extremely painful decision," you know?

Big Music Mags Are Tanking, But Online-Only Publication Pitchfork is Thriving

2009-07-13T13:23:00.005-04:00

Several major, slick, once heavily funded general-interest music magazines have tanked - R.I.P., Vibe and Blender.

But the online-only publication Pitchfork Media is thriving, according to a piece published in Forbes.

Pitchfork, celebrating its 13th anniversary this year, gets 1.8 million visitors a month, on average. Median age of readers: 26. The publication, with a full-time staff of 17, is based in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood.

The really telling detail: Pitchfork, whose advertisers include Toyota and Apple, pays writers $80 to $110 per CD review, or twice (and more) the fee reviewers get at some well-established jazz magazines.

Each week, 25 new album reviews are posted. Each day, on average, 15 news items and 15 track reviews are posted.

"Pitchfork sees future growth in a recently launched streaming channel on the site, which includes staff-chosen music videos, video documentaries and interviews with members of U2 and MIA, says Pitchfork publisher Christopher Kaskie," according to the story, written by Dirk Smillie. "The site may soon pipe content onto mobile platforms too."

So here it is, a working model of a music publication that is doing more than surviving the downturn in the publishing industry (and, of course, the Great Recession) - it's thriving.

Are Rolling Stone and Spin, still hanging around in print (with online adjuncts), taking notice?

How about the jazz mags? How about the late, great No Depression (which still exists as a community of fans, with archived material from the print mag)?

Read the rest of the Forbes piece here.

Jazz Times: Back From the Dead

2009-07-12T22:07:00.003-04:00

Great news for jazz fans: Jazz Times, the 100,000-circulation jazz magazine, is returning from its hiatus. That's a nice surprise, to say the least, as many observers had already written the publication's obit.

The mag, now owned by Boston-based Madavor Media, is returning to print with an August issue, according to a New York Times blog item posted today by Ben Ratliff.

“Our only plans are to figure out how to do things better,” Lee Mergner, the magazine's editor in chief, told Ratliff. “This isn’t an opportunity for us to clean house.”

The news is yet to be reported on the Jazz Times site. Read more here.

Thanks to bassist Matthew Wengerd, based in Lakeland, Florida, for alerting me to this news.

Listening Post #11: Levon Helm, Morphine, Art Pepper, Son Volt, Keller Williams

2009-07-12T21:32:00.004-04:00

Five releases in rotation at home and in the car - a list without comment (in alphabetical order):

* Levon Helm, Electric Dirt (Vanguard, 2009)

* Morphine, Cure for Pain (Rykodisc, 1993)

* Art Pepper, Art Standards (Galaxy, 2009)

* Son Volt, American Central Dust (Rounder, 2009)

* Keller Williams with Moseley, Droll and Sipe, Live (Sci Fidelity, 2008)

Nobody Move: Neo-Noir With a Twist

2009-07-11T21:52:00.003-04:00

I recently read Denis Johnson's new Nobody Move, and posted the following mini-review on my Living Social/books page.

This unexpected left turn from acclaimed author Denis Johnson has to count as one of the darkest, fastest-moving and most vivid crime novels I've read in a long while - sort of like Elmore Leonard, except with more flesh on those bones and more "literary" (that's not at all a dis on Leonard, a longtime favorite of mine).

Protagonist Jimmy Luntz is a gambler with a passion for barbership singing (goofy, but it works) and a real problem - he owes a heavy gambling debt to some very bad people. The twist here, too, is the fact that the novel is pure neo-noir - crackling tough-guy dialogue, bleak outlook, a beautiful but dangerous woman, rain-slicked streets - but set in the contemporary West. That aspect of it reminded me of the underappreciated John Dahl film Red Rock West.

Highly recommended.