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Wilsonian's Grain - Live at the Village Vanguard March 24

Steve Wilson is one of the finest saxophonists in the business: He’s what musicians label a “first call” player. If you have a session coming up and you want great alto and soprano sax work, Wilson is your man. Many have called; Wilson has played on more than 100 albums, and he’s a key member of Grammy-winning groups such as the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Dave Holland Sextet and Chick Corea’s Origin.

Wilson grew up in Virginia and earned a music scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he performed and studied with Lionel Hampton, the Heath Brothers and Ellis Marsalis. Eventually, the saxophonist made his way to New York and hooked up with some other talented young up-and-comers in the O.T.B. (a.k.a. Out of the Blue) band, organized by Blue Note records. Wilson is also a member of the all-star ensemble Blue Note 7, which is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the label in 2009.

Wilson has recently been off to the far-east for concerts with Christian McBride and Inside Straight. But he returns and hits the ground running with his Wilsonian’s Grain band for Live at the Village Vanguard on Wednesday, March 24.  WBGO listeners may recall this band which was captured by JazzSet in April 2009.

This is WBGO’s Josh Jackson second broadcast from the Village Vanguard in March and it is sure to be exciting.  The band that evening will include Orrin Evans, Ugonna Okegwo and Bill Stewart.  The performance begins at 9pm, and will be available live online at WBGO.org.

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WBGO Broadcasted an excellent (and augmented) Ravi Coltrane Quartet at NJPAC last weekend.  The concert featured the brilliant piano voicings of Geri Allen, whom Ravi has admired since the early 90s.  The concert is now available on-demand.  Click below, sit back, and enjoy this adventurous hour plus of music which also featured Drew Gress on bass, and E.J. Strickland on drums. – Simon Rentner

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Nicholas Patyon (photo by Michael Wilson)

Tune in, log on or drop by the Village Vanguard on Wednesday, March 10 to hear the Nicholas Payton Quintet on WBGO’s Live at the Village Vanguard.

The band will include Taylor Eigsti on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and Daniel Sadownick on percucssion.

Born into a musical family (he remembers sitting under the piano while his father rehearsed with his band) and mentored by two Crescent City jazz masters (Clyde Kerr Jr. at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Ellis Marsalis at the University of New Orleans), Payton was well-prepared to leap into the jazz fray when he emerged on the New York in the early 1990s. He impressed fellow New Orleans native and Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director, Wynton Marsalis and was a regular in the early years of programming at the institution.

Payton went on to put his own spin on Louis Armstrong-associated music on his sophomore CD, the appropriately-titled 1995 disc Gumbo Nouveau. While over the next several years, Payton continued to hone his craft working with such jazz legends as Doc Cheatham (on their Grammy Award-winning 1997 eponymous duo), Hank Jones, Elvin Jones, and Ray Brown, in 2003 he boldly moved beyond the straight-ahead. He shocked the jazz world with his adventurous CD Sonic Trance, an exhilarating plugged-in outing infused with elements of hip-hop, electronica, and effects-driven trumpeting.

Don’t miss this exciting edition of Live from the Village Vanguard with the Nicolas Payton Quintet on March 10, 2010 at 9pm.

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Johnny Dankworth was best known in the US as the musical director for his wife, singer Cleo Laine, but in the UK he was better known as a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist, bandleader and arranger, composer for TV and movies, symphony pops conductor, and, with Cleo, founder of the Allmusic school for young musicians.  When he was knighted by the Queen in 2006, Sir John and Dame Cleo became the first jazz artists honored on the Queen’s list.  He died on February 6th, and this hour’s tribute includes songs he composed for and with Cleo, also his settings of Shakespeare and other poetry, his arrangements of Duke Ellington classics, one of his Pops pieces for the London Symphony, and his Mozartian “Turkish Delight” with Cleo at Carnegie Hall.  Johnny and Cleo were guests on Singers Unlimited several times through the years and were always delightful.
– Michael Bourne
Listen to featured music in program by clicking below.

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