There is a laudable tradition in the Jewish faith. The deceased are each buried in the same plain
wooden box, no metal or ornamentation to delay their return to the earth or to distinguish
them in the eyes of their maker according to wealth or position. It is that which inspires this
issue, which we have called Those Gone Silent (pgs. 6-11). 18 jazz musicians from around the
world were victims of COVID-19, a microscopic entity with a terrifyingly macroscopic
impact. Some of these musicians were legends while others may have existed on the fringes.
There were those that were prolific and those whose careers were truncated by the vagaries
often accompanying a life in the arts. There were banjo, bass, guitar, keyboards, piano,
production, saxophone, trombone and trumpet across as many sub-genres of jazz. What they
all have in common is this tragic ending. So we memorialize them fully and equally, each
written about by a friend, collaborator or even family member. The black cover of this issue is
reflective of our grief for these losses.
With no concerts being presented in New York for the foreseeable future, many musicians
have gone online to stream solo performances or, if they are lucky enough to live with a fellow
musician, duets. To celebrate this adaptation in the time of crisis, we devote a section of CD
Reviews (pgs. 16-19) to solo and duo recordings.
And we present a special feature, "The Shape of Jazz to Come" (pg. 3), named for the Ornette
Coleman album, wherein we spoke with club owners from across the city and across the
spectrum about their efforts, concerns and hopes for their individual reopenings and audience
engagement when the time comes that the city and its artistic communities come out of isolation.
Special Feature: THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME
By Kurt Gottschalk
Nobody knows quite what the city will look like once
the New York PAUSE order is lifted and nobody knows
what the months and years following will bring. One
thing that seems all but certain, however, is that New
Yorkers are in for a period of sad discoveries. Along
with the losses of life and livelihood, favorite
restaurants, cafés and bars, clubs and venues,
bookstores and record stores are sure to be gone,
having disappeared with neither fanfare nor farewell.
In Memoriam: THOSE GONE SILENT
Bootsie Barnes by Odean Pope Eddy Davis by Scott Robinson Manu Dibango by Bill Laswell Henry Grimes by Marc Ribot Olle Holmqvist by Per-Åke Holmlander David Horowitz by Herb Bushler Lee Konitz by Dan Tepfer Alex Layne by Albert Vollmer Giuseppi Logan by Matt Lavelle Mike Longo by Jimmy Owens Pat Longo by Kim Richmond Ellis Marsalis by Jason Marsalis Jacques Pellen by Marcello Pellitteri Marcelo Peralta by Guillermo Bazzola Bucky Pizzarelli by Ken Peplowski Freddy Rodriguez, Sr. by Andrew Hudson Wallace Roney by Don Sickler Hal Willner by Steven Bernstein
CD Reviews
Lee Konitz—Old Songs New Sunnyside
Wallace Roney—Blue Dawn HighNote
Geri Allen—Some Aspects of Water Storyville
Bo Lindenstrand—Live PB7
Ingrid Laubrock/Aki Takase—Kasumi Intakt
Anaïs Maviel—In The Garden Gold Bolus
Bobby Naughton—Solo OTIC
Silke Eberhard/Maike Hilbig—Matsch und Schnee Trouble in the East
Matthew Shipp—The Piano Equation TAO Forms
Denman Maroney—solo@70 s/r
Howard Riley—More Listening, More Hearing SLAM Productions
Ken Vandermark—Momentum 4 (Consequent Duos: 2015>2019) Audiographic
...and Plenty More!
Look for other sections like In Memoriam, On This Day, In Print, On DVD, VOXNews, NY@Night, Recommended New Releases, Birthdays, and our invaluable Event Calendar.
Thanks so much for reading The New York City Jazz Record, the city's only homegrown gazette devoted to the music.
