Bix Biederbecke

Jazz’s start can not be summed up with any big bang theory. A more accurate image would be a pebble thrown into a lake, concentric circles branching out from the initial impact, all the generations of composer/players and their contributions. While who was jazz’s “all father” is a subjective issue that can make for some interesting debates, more easy to agree upon are the first waves of composer/musicians who midwived this art form in its naissance.  Along with Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), jazz’s other initial great horn soloist was Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931).  Their styles were drastically different but both paved the way for generations of jazz musicians and soloists to come. Louis Armstrong had a more direct effect on soloists while Bix, once memory of seeing him perform live began to fade,  seemed to influence more through a sort of sonic osmosis. A five-volume reissue from Sunbeam Records, Bix Restored, released over a decade (1995-2005), brings overdue attention to this Jazz Age Gabriel.

Too often represented by apocryphal tales, Bix’s real life reads very much like something from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s oeuvre. It makes for perfect symmetry as Bix supplied the soundtrack for this era whose list of tragic anti-heroes he would join.

© Howard A. Gitelson

"There's a small subgenre of bands right now that are making a tricky but inevitable connection: the combustible energy, sardonic attitudes and harsh, crackling timbres of indie rock and the musicianship, improvisational logic and humanism of jazz. ... [ The Peace Between Our Companies (2005)] comes in like a lion with 'Starchild Cranium,' but that full-on clank has nothing to do with the serenity of the winding ballad 'Ella by Nightlight,' near the end. It's nice to hear a band with such radically different dispositions". - New York Times

Jim Rothermel

The Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay will present the Jim Rothermel Swingtet on Sunday, August 31st from 4:30 to &:30 PM. The Jim Rothermel Swingtet (formerly known as Neoclassic Swin) plays the great music from the classic Big Band Era, 1935-1945. While the group's music also reflects more modern influences, it draws primarily from bands such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman and Count Basie. Some of the musicians who have performed with the Swingtet are: Shota Osabe, Ron Borelli and Larry Vuckovich, piano; Al Obidinski, Steve Hanson, Blake Richardson and Jeff Neighbor, bass; Bil Nawrocki, Dave Black, Jim Zimmerman and Tony Johnson, drums; and Glen Deardorff, Jim Putman and Duncan James, guitar. With leader Jim Rothermel performing on saxophones and clarinet with Noel Jewkes (saxophones & clarinet), Steve Campos (trumpet & flugelhorn), Larry Vuckovich (piano), Al Obidinski (bass), Tony Johnson (drums), and a  Trombone player to be named.

Avashi Cohen

“...a transcendent example of the capacity of music...to reach beyond geographical and political boundaries ...” --Don Heckerman, The Los Angeles Times 
 

The acoustic bass is not generally perceived as one of the leading voices in a jazz ensemble. Horns and pianos, sometimes percussion and guitars, garner more attention from an audience and even from critics. Yet the bass is critical to the pace and rhythm, and in the right hands, can be an elegant and forceful solo instrument as well. Historically, despite their instrument’s low profile, some of the genre’s most lauded visionaries have been the bassists—Charles Mingus, Dave Holland, Jaco Pastorious, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Stanley Clarke, Gary Peacock, Christian McBride. Add to this list Avishai Cohen, an Israeli composer, bandleader, bassist and (sometimes) pianist (not to be confused with the trumpeter of the same name) with a growing reputation for music that fuses Latin and Middle Eastern folk melodies with modern jazz structures. Now on tour in support of his ninth release, Gently Disturbed, Cohen should solidify that reputation and confirm Downbeat’s designation as “a jazz visionary of global proportions.” In Manhattan, you can hear this for yourself at the Blue Note this weekend, August 28-31. 

Roy Haynes with David Wong©Andrea Canter

“As 'Fountain of Youth' so exuberantly captures, Roy Haynes is one of the seven wonders of modern jazz." --Dan Ouelette (Billboard) 
 

If there is an “Energizer Bunny” of jazz, it has to be drummer extraordinaire Roy Haynes. At an age when even jazz musicians tend to slow down and take it easy, 83-year-old Haynes has done the opposite, revving up his engines with his latest “Fountain of Youth” quartet—so aptly named for its leader, issuing volcanic recordings and traveling cross- country to share the beat. One of the most dynamic timekeepers in the business, Haynes’ career mirrors the history of modern jazz as one of the last of the great innovators of the 1940s who is still pushing the genre forward in the 21st century. Few—if any-- working musicians in 2008 include the bands of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie on their resumes; but some of today’s hottest rising stars are graduates of the “Academy of Roy Haynes.” Celebrating the 3-CD/DVD retrospective release of A Life in Time, Haynes and the Fountain of Youth are on tour this summer, with a final summer gig at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, August 27-31. Throw in Roy’s new persona as “DJ” for the video game, Grand Theft Auto IV!