JAM: February/March 2007 Issue: Feature Story

IAJE REPORT

New York is the Place

I can't say that the announcement that the annual convention of the International Association for Jazz Education will be held in Toronto in 2008 was good news to me. It seems that New York City has a most important attribute in that it is the most vibrant jazz scene in the world.

Not only do conference attendees get the three plus days of excellent programming assembled by the IAJE team, but we can also take in the whole scene – the clubs, the record and musical instrument stores – in addition to the rest of this great city.

One overlooked gem for the devoted student is the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University 's Dana Library in Newark . Don Maggin, the biographer of Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie, arranged for the tour, which was given by IJS archivist Tad Hershorn. (Thank you Anthony Brown, Don's assistant, for taking me out to Newark .) The purpose of the visit was to see what the Institute had to offer to those doing some research. The answer: much. The Institute has much of what one would expect – an extensive collection of recorded jazz, a book collection that seemed to have everything about the music, including the major discographies (including label and artist discographies), biographies, collections of essays, the great jazz history books, and many books with subject matter only tangentially associated with jazz. They also have extensive photograph collections.

The Institute has an ongoing oral history project that at this point has 125 artists, including Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams, and Jay McShann. In fact, their Mary Lou Williams archive is overwhelming, as she saved everything from correspondence to utility bills. My mom was like this, too, and called herself a “pack rat”. This collection was donated to the Institute, and they have sorted into a dozen categories and cataloged the whole thing. She had photographs, news clippings, recordings, contracts, concert programs, you name it.

It is in these donated collections where the Institute has its true depth – it changes from a research library to a true museum.

The Institute also has some nice programs available on the Web. Tad showed me much of the Count Basie program, which leads one through the life and music of the Count. These programs would be enjoyable by fans (and non-fans) of all ages. Try their Web site- www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/jazz/jazz.shtml.

It should be noted that IJS Director Dan Morgenstern was honored at the IAJE by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master.

There are so many levels that one can approach the IAJE convention. For the educator or student there are clinics and discussions all day long. For manufacturers and distributors of instruments and scores, it is a chance for your products to be seen and tested by a concentrated group of potential consumers. For all it is a chance to see old friends. For the fan – and everyone in attendance is a fan – it is a wonderfully varied jazz festival.

I only touched the surface of what was here. I heard “stars” like Ingrid Jensen and Joanne Brackeen; I heard a vocalist that I knew by name only, Janice Borla, whose band included Bob Bowman (Janice was outstanding, a “true” jazz vocalist). And in the clubs I heard some other favorites, like Tom Harrell in a precious duo with pianist Baptiste Trotignon at the Kintano Hotel; also at the Kintano, pianist Michael Weiss' quartet with saxophonist Bob Sheppard, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and outstanding drummer Greg Hutchinson; Steven Maglio with the Stan Rubin Orchestra doing their Sinatra show at the Carnegie Club; Houston Person at the historic Lenox Lounge; and a favorite guitarist, Peter Leitch, at the Tribeca restaurant Walker's, where he has been doing Sunday evening duos for ten years (“Ever since Bradley's closed”).

The big bands at the IAJE were a highlight. Four had strong connections with the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop that was started by Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam about twenty years ago, and is currently led by Jim McNeely and Michael Abene. The group Pulse with trumpeter John McNeil and guitarist Pete McCann presented the music of six different composers in a program called The Eloquence of Light. The pieces were inspired by photographs. The instrumentation of the group – four strings, two reeds, a tuba, a French horn, keyboard and percussion/vibes allowed for a broad sound palette. The BMI/NY Jazz Orchestra, which reads the work of the Jazz Composers Workshop participants every month, performed some of the recent top compositions by Workshop students. Both of these performances showed the level of serious young composing talent that is emerging. There is no question that the Workshop will continue to have a strong influence on serious jazz composition for some time to come.

Two other big bands showed similar influences. Anita Brown was a JCW student a decade ago, and her work is inspired by time spent in Montauk on the tip of Long Island watching and hearing the waves and the lighthouse. And the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble is yet another fine NY-based band led by the drummer in Brookmeyer's New Art Orchestra. John is obviously synthesizing a broad spectrum of music in his work, from indie rock to new classical, and using a traditional big band instrumentation to present the results.

Sometimes the IAJE folks don't get the room sizes right, and that was clearly the case for a clinic given by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the continuation of the great Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (yes, they are still playing the Village Vanguard every Monday night, just like they have been for over forty years). The band gave some examples of how things work in the band- how drummer John Riley gives cues to the band (and to the listener, too); how Thad Jones used the entire band to state rhythms, in essence making them drummers; explaining how Thad's tune “Little Pixie” has such a difficult opening. Trombonist John Mosca led most of the discussion, and is a natural comedian. Pianist and VJO Composer in Residence Jim McNeely talked some about compostion, also. “What you hear is the result of many decisions the composer and arranger makes”, he shared. “It doesn't just happen”. He said this was something that hit him while in a grocery store with his mom when he was a kid, and some instrumental was playing in the store, and he wanted to learn how that happens.

The final big band was a departure from the others. Charles Tolliver is a trumpeter with credits back to the 1960's with Jackie McLean and others. He assembled a big band in the early 1970's, and seemed to drop out of sight. He has become more visibly active in recent years, playing with Andrew Hill, and assembling a new big band that is a killer. The rhythm section has Stanley Cowell, Cecil McBee, and Victor Lewis. Then you have Craig Handy, Billy Harper, Bill Saxton, Howard Johnson, Chris Albert, Keyon Harrold, Jason Jackson. Whereas the bands heard previously tended to paint more color and have as much connection with modern classical composition as they do with what many think of as the big band tradition, this band was wailing with no preoccupation with subtleties. Yikes!

Of course, Kansas City was well represented here. In addition to Bob Bowman, Jeff Harshbarger performed. I ran into Todd Wilkinson, David Basse, Steve Rigazzi , Rich Hill , and Harold and Chalis O'Neal. I know Gerald Dunn was here, also, but he was probably hanging in the clinics trying to learn something, which I dare say is the main purpose of the convention. But for a fan like me it's as good a jazz festival that you'll find.

—Roger Atkinson