The New York City Jazz Record

Interview: BILL LASWELL

Bassist and producer Bill Laswell has made as much of an imprint on the genre-blasting of Downtown experimentalism as just about anyone in the last 40 years. He has remixed Miles Davis and Bob Marley as well as Tori Amos and Ozzy Osbourne, put out-metal guitarist Buckethead and P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins in the same band and was the first to record Whitney Houston. He has worked with Sly Dunbar, Pharoah Sanders, Jah Wobble and John Zorn, to name just a few diverse touchstones. For almost as long as he has been playing and producing, Laswell has been creating opportunities for other musicians. He has had a hand in founding and operating a number of record labels and putting forth musicians across styles and generations. His most recent venture is Method of Defiance (MOD), a label founded in 2010 with Giacomo Bruzzo, who also started the RareNoise label, which has released nearly a dozen albums of diverse ambition. MOD has recently released Elevation: The Upper Air, the first solo piano record by another frequent collaborator and P-Funk alum, Bernie Worrell. Laswell is not, however, known for granting interviews often, which made for a good starting point for our conversation. Laswell curates a week at The Stone this month and is there Apr. 19th, 22nd, 26th and 27th.

Artist Feature: LISA MEZZACAPPA

As a teenage electric bass player in metal, punk and ska bands on Staten Island, Lisa Mezzacappa probably never envisioned her eventual musical future. But today, Mezzacappa, 39, concentrating on acoustic bass, is acknowledged as one of improvised music's movers and shakers in the Bay area, where she has lived since 2001. She has recorded a dozen CDs as leader or co-leader, many more as a sideperson, played all over North America and Europe and organizes local concerts as a "musical instigator". Mezzacappa is at Downtown Music Gallery Apr. 6th, The Firehouse Space Apr. 10th, Legion Bar Apr. 13th and Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center Apr. 14th.

Encore: ANDREW WHITE

The world of jazz and improvised music is made up of people who do things themselves - it has to be, because so little art is created validly from somebody else's mobilizing hand. Though not quite as well known as he should be outside of his Washington, DC homebase, saxophonist and bandleader Andrew White is the epitome of doing it oneself. White is at The Jazz Gallery Apr. 26th.

Lest We Forget: JIMMY GIUFFRE

First of spring: shy shoots poke through snow, a dog snoops along squirrel tracks, a cardinal wheet-wheets low-down. Makes one think of Jimmy Giuffre, that lone pioneer of solo clarinet performance, leafy, drum-free chamber trios, cant-free forthright orchestrations - cocking an ear to Ma Nature to play and write just how he heard her. Heck, even his name conjures up his tenor tone. That humid chuffling in the clarinet's dark chalumeau evoked a primeval, halcyon strain yet unheard in jazz. A Giuffre tribute is at Jazz Standard Apr. 15th-16th.

Megaphone: All Together Now

"People who need people/are the luckiest people in the world," writes lyricist Bob Merrill to Jule Styne's classic tune "People". I spent a lot of years plugging away as a bandleader. I did everything myself, to mixed results. My family is a large Italian one, where the word "I" doesn't really exist; doing all of this music stuff alone all the time felt weird. I started playing jazz because I loved the community. But then I moved to New York and felt like I was lost in this sea of musicians fighting for the same silly gig where you pass the hat. Monaco is at Flushing Town Hall Apr. 26th as part of the Queens Jazz OverGround Spring Jazz Fest.

Record Label Spotlight: CHESKY

Since its debut release in 1988, the Chesky label has drawn critical praise for its unique approach to audio. It began as a jazz label and issued valuable recordings by greats like Clark Terry, Phil Woods, McCoy Tyner, Hank Jones and Lee Konitz. Chesky recorded younger generations of musicians as well, including Fred Hersch, Eddie Daniels, Tom Harrell, Larry Coryell and Wycliffe Gordon. Co-founder David Chesky's interests as a performer himself covered many styles of music, so it was only natural that the label expanded into Latin jazz, Brazilian jazz, classical music and a subsidiary label for children's music. Artists performing this month include George Coleman at Smoke Apr. 4th-5th; George Colligan at Jazz Standard Apr. 30th; Larry Coryell/Victor Bailey/Lenny White at Iridium Apr. 11th-12th; Tom Harrell at Village Vanguard Apr. 1st-6th; Louis Hayes at Iridium Apr. 4th-5th and Smoke Apr. 18th-19th with Vincent Herring; David Hazeltine at Smoke Apr. 25th-26th with Jim Rotondi and Dizzy's Club Apr. 30th; Ari Hoenig at Terraza 7 Apr. 2nd and Smalls Apr. 7th, 21st and 28th; Javon Jackson at Village Vanguard Apr. 15th-20th; Romero Lubambo at Zankel Hall Apr. 5th; and Steve Wilson at Smalls Apr. 17th with Ira Coleman and Jazz at Kitano Apr. 25th with Leslie Pintchik.

CD Reviews

(this month's performance venues in parentheses):

1. Regina Carter -- Southern Comfort Sony Music Masterworks (Birdland)
2. Roy Nathanson -- Complicated Day Enja/Yellowbird (Joe's Pub)
3. Amy Cervini -- Jazz Country Anzic (55Bar)
4. Alfredo Rodriguez -- The Invasion Parade MACK Avenue (Jazz Standard)
5. Harold Mabern -- Right on Time Smoke Sessions (Smoke)
6. Mike Longo -- Step On It CAP (NYC Baha'I Center)
7. George Mraz/David Hazeltine -- Your Story Cube Metier (Smoke; Dizzy's Club)
8. Harry Miller -- Different Times, Different Places Ogun
9. Henri Texier -- At «l'Improviste» Label Bleu
10. Didier Levallet -- Voix Croisées Fremeaux & Assoc.
11. Michel Edelin -- Resurgence Rogue Art
12. Armen Donelian -- Sayat-Nova: Songs of My Ancestors Sunnyside (Tenri Cultural Center)
13. Max Johnson -- The Invisible Trio Fresh Sound-New Talent (Ibeam Brooklyn; Spectrum; New School Arnhold Hall; Barbès; Freddy's Backroom)
14. Johnny O'Neal -- Live at Smalls smallsLIVE (Smoke; Smalls)
15. Fonda/Stevens Group -- 20th Anniversary Tour ARC (Shrine; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center)
16. Conference Call -- Seven: Live @ Firehouse 12 Not Two
17. Peter Bernstein -- Solo Guitar: Live at Smalls smallsLIVE (Smalls)
18. Anthony Braxton -- Quartet (Warsaw) 2012 For-Tune (Roulette)
19. Jon Davis -- How Insensitive And Other Ballads (Solo Piano) s/r (Knickerbocker Bar & Grill; Smalls)
20. Dan Weiss -- Fourteen Pi (The Jazz Gallery)
21. Randy Ingram -- Sky | Lift Sunnyside (Smalls)
22. Gene Ludwig/Pat Martino Trio -- Young Guns HighNote (Birdland)
23. Sun Ra -- Continuation El Saturn-Corbett vs. Dempsey (Drom)
24. Dave Rempis/Tim Daisy -- Second Spring Aerophonic (Le Poisson Rouge)
25. Tim Daisy -- A Fine Day in Berlin Relay (Le Poisson Rouge)
26. Jemeel Moondoc/Connie Crothers -- Two Relative Pitch (Ibeam Brooklyn; The Firehouse Space)
27. Connie Crothers -- Deep Friendship New Artists (Ibeam Brooklyn; The Firehouse Space)
28. Simon Tedeschi -- Gershwin: Take Two ABC Classics
29. Zoot Sims -- And The Gershwin Brothers Pablo-Concord
30. Matt Slocum -- Black Elk's Dream Chandra (Jazz at Kitano)
31. Leslie Pintchik -- In The Nature of Things Pintch Hard (Jazz at Kitano)
32. Chick Corea -- The Vigil Concord (Town Hall)
33. Dave Douglas/Chet Doxas/Steve Swallow/Jim Doxas -- Riverside Greenleaf Music (jazz Standard)
34. IN -- Defining Moment s/r (Bar Next Door)
35. Vincent Herring -- The Uptown Shuffle Smoke Sessions (Smoke)
36. Carolina Calvache -- Sotareño Sunnyside (Drom)
37. Aram Bajakian -- There Were Flowers Also in Hell Sanasar (Grand Victory)
38. Jon Irabagon -- It Takes All Kinds Jazzwerkstatt (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center; Bar Next Door; Jazz at Kitano; Flushing Town Hall)
39. Jon Lundbom -- Liverevil Hot Cup
40. Jim Rotondi -- Hard Hittin' at The Bird's Eye Sharp Nine (Smoke; Dizzy's Club)
41. Marilyn Lerner/Ken Filiano/Lou Grassi -- Live in Madrid Cadence Jazz (The Firehouse Space)
42. Oscar Peñas -- Music of Departures and Returns Musikoz (BAMCafé)
43. Dr. Lonnie Smith -- In The Beginning, Volumes 1 & 2 Pilgrimage Productions (Jazz Standard)
44. Evan Parker/Joe McPhee -- What / If / They Both Could Fly Rune Grammofon
45. Kidd Jordan/Peter Kowald/Alvin Fielder -- Live in New Orleans NoBusiness
46. Made to Break -- Provoke Clean Feed (Le Poisson Rouge)
47. Made to Break -- Lacerba Clean Feed (Le Poisson Rouge)
48. Made to Break -- Cherchez La Femme Trost (Le Poisson Rouge)
49. Ken Vandermark/The Resonance Ensemble -- Head Above Water/Feet Out Of The Fire Not Two (Le Poisson Rouge)
50. Hat & Beard -- Reflections: The Music of Thelonious Monk Trio Rec. & Prod.
51. Bernie Worrell -- Elevation: The Upper Air M.O.D. Technologies (The Stone)
52. Geof Bradfield -- Melba! Origin
53. Sabir Mateen -- The Sabir Mateen Jubilee Ensemble Not Two
54. Jack Walrath -- To Hellas And Back SteepleChase
55. William Parker -- Wood Flute Songs (Anthology/Live 2006-2012) AUM Fidelity (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center; Brecht Forum; Downtown Music Gallery)

...and Plenty More!

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Thanks so much for reading The New York City Jazz Record, the city's only homegrown gazette devoted to the music.

All the best,
Andrey and Laurence