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Friday Night Jazz: JVC Jazz Festival NY

Our previously scheduled FNJ is now lost to the ether, but here's a short list from the upcoming Jazz Festival to tide you over (the full schedule is on line here):

Friday, June 15

CASSANDRA WILSON/OLU DARA In the early 1990s Cassandra Wilson made “Blue Light ’Til Dawn,” an album with light, slow-moving, Southern-signifying arrangements informed by ’60s folk and pop. The trumpeter, guitarist and songwriter Olu Dara, a Mississippian like Ms. Wilson, was one of her collaborators; his own subsequent solo albums, full of acoustic guitar grooves and rural-blues echoes, complemented hers. Central Park SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield, midpark at 70th Street, summerstage.org, 7 p.m., free.

Wednesday, June 20

BRANFORD MARSALIS/JOSHUA REDMAN TRIO Mr. Marsalis started making his own records in 1984, Mr. Redman nine years later. But as if responding to a common call, both these tenor saxophonists have crystallized what they do best and made possibly the best records of their careers over the last year: Mr. Marsalis’s “Braggtown” and Mr. Redman’s “Back East.” With Mr. Marsalis this comes down to the mechanics of his gloriously coordinated, hard-hitting quartet; with Mr. Redman, it’s the clarity and flow of his improvising within the simplicity of a trio setting. Town Hall, JVC, 8 p.m., $50 to $65.

Friday, June 22

STEFANO BOLLANI A fine and freewheeling Italian pianist in his mid-30s, Mr. Bollani has come to the crucial understanding that he can find an audience without having to choose among attitudes, influences and styles: deeply playful or serious, ragtime, pop, Prokofiev, Jobim, Keith Jarrett, whatever. He is a particularly good solo performer (as suggested by last year’s “Piano Solo,” on ECM), so this performance will be a special one. Fazioli Salon at Klavierhaus, 211 West 58th Street, Manhattan, pianoculture.com, 8 p.m., $25.

Sunday, June 24

LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO A South African jazz drummer, Mr. Moholo-Moholo was part of the British jazz scene in the mid-’60s as a member of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath, living in London and collaborating with South African and English musicians. (See Tern [LIVE]) He recently returned to South Africa, where he leads a big band.) He’s an exemplary modern drummer, in his flexibility between strong swing and a free-rhythm vocabulary, and he’s still mostly unknown here: aside from one Vision Festival show six years ago, he hasn’t played here since the 1960s. Vision, 9 p.m., $30.

Wednesday, June 27

‘RON CARTER: THE MASTER AT 70’ The bassist Ron Carter, first famous as a member of  Miles Davis’s mid-1960s quintet and then loosed on the jazz world as a ubiquitous free agent, has played on so many records — including more than 30 of his own — that a concert like this seems almost necessary, never mind the fact that he turned 70 last month. He will perform with two other members of that great Davis group, the saxophonist Wayne Shorter and the pianist Herbie Hancock, alongside Billy Cobham on drums; in duet with the guitarist Jim Hall (a good thing, as their rich duet records are underrated); in a trio with the pianist Mulgrew Miller and the guitarist Russell Malone; and with his own quartet. Carnegie Hall, JVC, 8 p.m., $30 to $75.

Friday, June 29

NANCY WILSON Ms. Wilson remains an exciting jazz singer, despite the light, low-pressure subtleties of her voice, and even if her records have been treated as a kind of antidote to excitement. (Her hits started showing up on the Billboard easy-listening chart in the mid-’60s, but few can condescend to the casually brilliant album “Cannonball Adderley and Nancy Wilson” or the recently released “Live in Las Vegas.”) JVC, 8 p.m., $35 to $85.

That's all for this belated (and highly stolen) version of FRIDAY NIGHT JAZZ . . .

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Source:
If It’s June, This Must Be Jazz
BEN RATLIFF
NYT, June 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/arts/music/15jazz.html

Friday, June 15, 2007 | 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

2 quick notes: olu dara's son is none other than the rapper nas! i saw an amusing article on nas in which he talked about how in a better world, his dad would be worth at least as much as he is....

and i just have to second that emotion on the nancy wilson/cannonball adderly album: one of my all-time faves....

Posted by: howard | Jun 17, 2007 4:30:35 PM