Welcome to another jam-packed issue of The New York City Jazz Record, featuring articles, reviews and concert listings on the music we love created by musicians whom without the world would be a lesser place.
Closing in on the first days of Spring, NYC has already gotten substantial stretches of unseasonably warm weather while snow shovels quietly have gathered dust (thanks global warming). So, as exciting as are Spring’s first blooms, consider this our annual March bouquet salute to Women’s History Month. We are honored to dedicate much of the editorial to women who have helped make the jazz fabric that much stronger—from instrumentalists to vocalists, arrangers and composers, mentors and teachers.
Nicole Mitchell (Cover Story) encapsulates all of the above and then some (add book author to that list). Violinist Sara Caswell (Interview Feature) has been bolstering the projects of others and finally releases her first album as leader in two decades. And representing the younger generation, bassist Endea Owens (Artist Feature) has been omnipresent, playing bass with Jon Batiste and the Stay Human Band and soon self-releasing her long- awaited leader debut with her band The Cookout this Spring. And all three are leading their respective projects in the city this month. Be sure to check out the front-loaded section of Album Reviews covering stellar releases by stellar women (pgs. 16-21). We also pay tribute to two late elder stateswomen of jazz: pianist Connie Crothers (Lest We Forget) passed away a half-dozen years ago and is fêted this month by close colleagues, and vocalist Carol Sloane (see Special Feature In Memoriam) whose very recent death has the jazz community reeling.
Just as with February’s Black History Month, Women’s History Month gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect to show appreciation. But obviously it’s as important to make sure that such confined focus of recognition and respect doesn’t and shouldn’t start and end on the first and last days of these months.
Onwards and outwards, happy reading and listening—and see you out at the shows!
On the Cover: NICOLE MITCHELL
By Kurt Gottschalk; photos Courtesy of Artist
Utopian visions are hard things to transmit… It’s up the dreamer to sell the deal. Composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell dreams big. It says a lot about her spirit that she can take inspiration from the noted science fiction author Octavia A. Butler—whose dystopic novels of and societal divisions won her Hugo and Nebula awards and a MacArthur Fellowship—to create her own, perfect world. Mitchell is at Miller Theatre, as part of the venue’s Composer Portrait series Mar. 30.
Interview: SARA CASWELL
By Jim Motavalli; photo by Shervin Lainez
Sara Caswell, a Grammy-nominated first-call violinist and composer who lives in Brooklyn, just released The Way To You (Anzic), her first album as a leader in nearly 20 years. Her album release concert is at Birdland Theater Mar. 5 and, just north of the city in Tarrytown, at Jazz Forum Arts Mar. 19.
Artist Feature: ENDEA OWENS
By Russ Musto; photo Courtesy of Artist
Owens has emerged as a bandleader in her own right. “I started my band around 2018 because I just felt like I wasn’t getting a lot of respect as a female musician, especially a black female musician.” Endea Owens and The Cookout is at Dizzy’s Club Mar. 18-19 and Sistas’ Place Mar. 11 (she is also at Smalls Mar. 22 with Curtis Nowosad).
Encore: ROSA PASSOS
On Rosa Passos’ new live recording, Samba Sem Você (Storyville), the celebrated Brazilian singer/guitarist artfully negotiates the rhythmic currents and fast-paced melodies. By the time she recorded this album—the second set from a gig at Copenhagen Jazzhouse 2021—the Bahian artists was two decades out from her debut, Recriação, the record that launched her reputation as one of the foremost interpreters of the Bossa Songbook. Passos is at JALC’s The Appel Room Mar. 24-25.
Lest We Forget: CONNIE CROTHERS
By Eric Wendell; photo by Enid Farber
When pianist/composer Connie Crothers passed away in 2016 at the age of 75, she left a community that loved her music and her warm heart. A Crothers tribute—featuring William Parker, Patricia Nicholson-Parker, Mara Rosenbloom, Andrea Wolper, Melanie Dyer, Warren Smith and others—is at 411 Kent’s Shift Series presented by Arts for Art Mar. 3.
Special Feature: CAROL SLOANE In Memoriam (Photo by Alan Nahigian)
Remembrances by Bill Charlap, Stephen Barefoot, Mary Stallings, Daryl Sherman, Libby York, Catherine Russell, Roberta Gambarini, Karrin Allyson, Nancy Harrow, Joe Labarbera, Donna Byrne, Ron Vincent, Ken Peplowski, Dominique Eade, Jay Leonhart, Rebecca Kilgore, Paula Cole
Album, In Print, On Screen Reviews, etc.:
3D Jazz Trio – 9 to 5 (DIVA Jazz)
Andrea Brachfeld & Insight – Evolution (Origin)
Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile (Verve)
Salome Bey – s/t (Canadian Trust Library/Quality – Bey Enterprises)
Sana Nagano – Anime Mundi (577 Records)
Santi Debriano Arkestra Bembe – Ashanti (JoJo)
SFJAZZ Collective – New Works Reflecting The Moment (SFJazz)
Sloane: A Jazz Singer(goingbarefoot.inc)
Steven Bernstein's Milennial Territory Orchestra – Popular Culture (Community Music, Vol.4) (Royal Potato Family)
Tim Berne/Matt Mitchell – One More, Please (Intakt)
Vinny Golia/Bernard Santacruz/Cristiano Calcagnile – To Live And Breathe... (Dark Tree)
...and Plenty More!
Look for other sections like Festival Report, NY@Night, Label Spotlight, VOXNews, In Memoriam, Recommended New Releases 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.
