Great Live Moments - Heath Brothers

April 10, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: art blakey, bud powell, clifford brown, dizzy gillespie, english toffee bar, heath brothers, horace silver, Jazz Alive, jazz family, jazz saxophonist, jimmy heath, Listening Post, Live Music, Masters, modern jazz quartet, new jersey performing arts, new jersey performing arts center, percy heath, prudential hall, sonny rollins, sweet basil, thelonious monk, tootie heath, Video, wbgo

The Heath brothers I have known are not confectioners who created an English toffee bar. They played jazz. Much sweeter than candy...

Saxophonist Jimmy Heath, drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, and the late bassist/cellist Percy Heath were jazz family long before the Marsalis clan. Separately, the sum of their music making covers the totality of modern jazz - Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet. I could go on and on, but enough already! Together, the Heath Brothers were a cohesive jazz combo that brought their collective experience to the stage to form their own brand of brotherly jazz.

WBGO has recorded a number of Heath Brothers performances. They include a beautiful recording from New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Prudential Hall, as well as a club date at Iridium. And that's just during my seven year tenure at the station! In 1984, WBGO recorded The Heath Brothers on New Year's Eve. December 31, 1984 at Sweet Basil in New York. The pianist was Stanley Cowell.

Check out the Heath Brothers playing "Sleeves" from the WBGO Archives.
-Josh

PS While you're still here, watch this clip from Danny Sherr's award-winning video about the siblings, Brotherly Jazz.

© 2008 WBGO

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IAJE Evening 1 - Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars

January 10, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: attendace, clifford brown, Discovery, fresh faces, gala concert, gregory chaplin, high school students, hopedale ma, iaje, IAJE 2008, international pool, jitters, Live Music, milwaukee wi, professional musicians, ringer, sax, stan getz, those kids, trombone, trumpeter nicholas payton, vancouver bc, vancouver wa, youngsters

One of the nicest things about IAJE is seeing the fresh faces - the young talent who are really excited about playing jazz. It's funny to watch them go ga-ga over the professional musicians in attendance. Then I remember how that used to be me 15 years ago. Now I'm 33, and all those kids say, "Excuse me, SIR." Ugh. Go right ahead, kiddo...

The Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars are high school students. They're selected from an international pool of talent, though this group comes exclusively from North America. They opened the IAJE Gala Concert tonight. They are:

Gregory Chaplin - bass (Hopedale, MA), Jake Sherman - piano (Boston, MA), Conrad Jones - trumpet (Long Island), Javier Nero - trombone (Vancouver, WA), Eli Bennett - sax (Vancouver, BC), Jonathan Ragonese - sax (Pennsylvania)

And from Milwaukee, WI, drummer Carl Allen. He's the ringer.

Seems like the youngsters had some jitters at first (probably because they were playing to a few thousand strangers), but they came together on the standard, "After You've Gone." I could tell they enjoyed the arrangement, a transcription from trumpeter Nicholas Payton's record, Gumbo Nouveau. Hear it now:

Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars - After You’ve Gone

Keep an ear out for them. They're the future of our music. - Josh

© 2008 WBGO

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IAJE Day 1 - Heritage for Tomorrow

January 9, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: aaron goldberg, bob brookmeyer, clifford brown, conservatoire national superieur, conservatoire national superieur de musique, erik satie, french composer, harland, IAJE 2008, ingrid jensen, jerome kern, lionel loueke, new york voices, paquito d rivera, paris conservatory, pianist erik, reuben rogers, special session, stan getz, three songs, young musicians

Heritage for Tomorrow is a quartet from the Paris Conservatory (or, officially, the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris...ahh, the French...). They are led by the bassist Riccardo del Fra.

The quartet performed three songs during the IAJE Special Session earlier today. I had not heard of the three young musicians who joined del Fra onstage, but I was impressed.

Here's the first song they played together.

Heritage for Tomorrow - Song One

They also played a Bob Brookmeyer composition, a nod to the French composer and pianist, Erik Satie.

Heritage for Tomorrow - Erik Satie

Finally, the quartet performed a thoroughly modern reading of "I'm Old Fashioned." I'm not sure Jerome Kern would recognize it. I barely could.

Heritage for Tomorrow - I’m Old Fashioned

That's it for today's early events. Tonight, I'm checking out shows from the Aaron Goldberg Trio with Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland, the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars, New York Voices with Paquito D'Rivera, Lionel Loueke, and Ingrid Jensen's band, Nordic Connect. Come back soon for that. - Josh

© 2008 WBGO

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