Take five: John Fordham's month in jazz – June
2) Zhenya StrigalevThe young Russian alto saxophonist Zhenya Strigalev has lived and worked in Britain for eight years (since his arrival on a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music), and he's a fascinating old-school/cutting-edge hybrid, with a formidable bebop-rooted sax technique, a burgeoning talent for composition, and an engaging willingness to take a chance. For his recent Smiling Organizm album, Strigalev hired none other than Brad Mehldau's bassist Larry Grenadier and Charles Lloyd's dazzling drummer Eric Harland, with Britain's gifted Liam Noble on piano. The full A-list team didn't attend the saxophonist's four CD-launch gigs at Charlie Wright's club in mid-June, but locals Noble and trumpeter Steve Fishwick made trenchant contributions, and there was a pretty formidable American contingent in bass guitarist Tim Lefebvre, drummer Obed Calvaire, and the energetic London-resident American double bassist Mike Janisch, whose Whirlwind label put out the new CD. Strigalev's compositional mix of wry Russian laments, full on Jackie McLean-reminiscent bebop, free-improv and hip-hop grooves is a work in progress, but a very promising one. Here's a typical track from the album – and a typical Strigalev title, Anchovies.Reading this on a mobile? Click here to listen3) George Gershwin anniversary Any month seems like a good one to reprise a jazz genius interpreting a magical theme, and since the 75th anniversary of George Gershwin's death is looming – on July 11 – it feels like a good enough excuse to recall once again how Miles Davis and arranger Gil Evans interpreted Gershwin's Summertime, from the composer's great jazz opera Porgy and Bess. It's an object lesson in how jazz musicians transform a classic melody while cherishing it.Gil Evans once observed that there were three people collaborating on that 1958 session – himself, Miles, and the spirit of Gershwin, who had died of a brain tumour two decades earlier aged only 38. Gershwin wasn't exclusively a jazz composer as Evans was, but he and the hugely successful "symphonic-jazz" bandleader Paul Whiteman had shared a bold belief – for the 20s – that the methods of jazz musicians and European classical composers might one day be brought together. Despite the 20s being dubbed the Jazz Age, jazz wasn't defined by the sound of its founding genius Louis Armstrong for most white audiences – because he was playing black nightclubs in Chicago at the time. Gershwin and Whiteman spliced the world of the foxtrot and the light classic to the hot and funky one coming up from New Orleans – of the waywardly syncopated beat, the suggestively slurred note, and the blues. The effect took a long time to work its way past racism and the entrenched positions of cultural elites, and it still hasn't entirely done so – but George Gershwin had an incalculable effect on the musical transformations of the 20th century.Reading this on a mobile? Click here to view
4) Abram WilsonA much more recent early death, and at the same age as Gershwin, was that of the New Orleans-raised, London-based trumpeter, singer, composer and teacher Abram Wilson – who sadly died of cancer on 9 June. Wilson was articulate, charming, gifted and entertaining, the kind of jazz musician who made friends for the music everywhere he went, for listeners from nine to 90. Like Wynton Marsalis, with whom he shared a hometown, Wilson had an agile trumpet technique with a full, glowing tone, startling originality of phrasing, and a profound knowledge of jazz tradition. Wilson loved soul and R&B as well as jazz (as a child, he had learned to play the songs of Stevie Wonder, the Commodores or Sister Sledge while sitting in the family's garage with the horn and a radio) and that inclusiveness came out in his work – notably in his bass-playing mentor Gary Crosby's popular ska-jazz-soul ensemble Jazz Jamaica. He was also devoted to storytelling in music – as in his 2006 extended composition Ride! – Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta, which told the tale of a jazz musician who tries to hit the hip-hop big time but eventually returns to his roots. Here's a typical example from that project – After the Storm. Rest in peace, Abram.Reading this on a mobile? Click here to view5) Pat Metheny Unity BandLast, but definitely not least, comes the enduringly creative guitar hero Pat Metheny, who visits London's Barbican on July 8 with the first group he's led in more than 30 years with a sax-player in it. Metheny brings his dynamic regular drummer Antonio Sanchez, formidable new bass discovery Ben Williams – and Chris Potter, one of the most acclaimed post-bop improvisers of the last 20 years – on saxes and bass clarinet.The Unity Band album features a new Metheny repertoire, but the guitarist has unhesitatingly acknowledged the importance of the last sax ensemble he led – with the late Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman, who performed on the powerful double-album 80/81. Intriguingly, Metheny has said it was the omnipresence of horn-players in jazz during his formative years in the 60s that made him favour lineups that didn't include any – and if anyone developed a hugely influential rock and Latin-influenced jazz sound without brass or reeds in the ensuing years, it has certainly been him. The Unity Band draws on all Metheny's wealth of experience in jazz, Latin music and funk, but 80/81 paid explicit homage to the mercurial melodic spirit of Ornette Coleman. Here's how, on Metheny's Colemanesque title track.Reading this on a mobile? Click here to viewJazzPat MethenyJohn Fordhamguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds ...
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