Since its inception in 1981, The Blue Note has become one of the premier jazz clubs in the world and a cultural institution in New York City. The Blue Note Blog gives an in depth and behind the scenes look at our world class artists through interviews, concert reviews, sound check reports, pictures, and other exclusive content. For tickets/reservations, please call 212-475-8592 or visit our website at www.bluenotejazz.com
Thursday, January 24, 2008
GRAMMYS IN THE SCHOOLS MEETS TAKE 6 FOR SOUND CHECK
Students involved in the Grammys in the Schools Program came to the Blue Note to learn how Take 6 works with engineers during sound check to prepare for their evening performance.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
ELDAR TONIGHT AND TOMORROW!
He's not even legal yet and listen to this kid play! He's up for a Grammy for best contemporary jazz album for "re-imagination." His lives shows are pretty intense, and he takes a lot of chances. Is this kid the next great prodigy in jazz? What do you all think?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Elisabeth Withers of "The Color Purple" a special guest with Barry Eastmond TONIGHT!
Elisabeth Withers, right, will perform as a special guest at the Blue Note TONIGHT!Today's Jersey Journal has a great article about Hoboken singer and actress Elisabeth Withers, who plays Shug Avery in "The Color Purple" on Broadway.
Wither's debut R&B album, "It Can Happen to Anyone," features the hit "Simple Things." She lives in the Hudson Tea building in Hoboken.
And on Monday, Withers is scheduled to sing at the famed Blue Note jazz club in New York City, where she'll join the likes of Freddie Jackson and Kenny Lattimore in a concert honoring songwriting maestro Barry Eastmond, who has penned songs for legendary divas like Anita Baker and Whitney Houston.
Wither's debut R&B album, "It Can Happen to Anyone," features the hit "Simple Things." She lives in the Hudson Tea building in Hoboken.
And on Monday, Withers is scheduled to sing at the famed Blue Note jazz club in New York City, where she'll join the likes of Freddie Jackson and Kenny Lattimore in a concert honoring songwriting maestro Barry Eastmond, who has penned songs for legendary divas like Anita Baker and Whitney Houston.
Read the complete article and interview with Withers here.
Friday, January 18, 2008
STAR LEDGER REVIEWS McCOY TYNER @ BLUE NOTE
NEW YORK -- When pianist and composer McCoy Tyner became a presence on the modern jazz scene in the early-to-mid-1960s -- with John Coltrane's quartet and as a stellar Blue Note Records artist -- his profound musicianship took listeners by storm.
Numerous attributes made Tyner, who opened a six-night stint Tuesday at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village, a lasting influence. Among them, his innovative use of wide intervals that gave jazz a fresh sound; his delicate-to-pile-driver touch, producing gauzy filigrees to massive chords; his formidable solos, which ran from alluring melody to provocative angularity; and his compositions, many now part of the jazz repertoire.
"The Real McCoy" -- made for Blue Note in 1967 with tenorman Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones at Rudy Van Gelder's in Englewood Cliffs -- characterized Tyner's prowess. In the first set Tuesday, he revisited two classics from that recording -- "Search for Peace" and "Blues on the Corner" -- that also appear on his latest CD, "Quartet" (McCoy Tyner Music).
Tyner played with tenorman Joe Lovano, a longtime colleague who is on "Quartet," and his regular trio partners, bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt. And while the leader -- a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship recipient whose Web site is mccoytyner.com -- is not the dynamo he was back in the day, he comes pretty close.
And that is taking into account not only the passing years -- he is now 69 -- but recent bouts of serious illness -- of which he has not spoken publicly, but whose impact is obvious. The toll that time and ill health have taken was revealed Tuesday in his substantial weight loss; in the softness of his raspy-voiced, friendly emcee announcements; and in the slight, aesthetically unimportant, diminution of his formerly stunning technique. Despite all these, Tyner still performed with deep musicality and feeling.
One number that exemplified his continued artistic vitality was his "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit," a 1970s piece that's also on "Quartet." The number is built on a driving left hand piano figure that Cannon picked up, and to which Gravatt added an invigorating beat. After Lovano's engaging theme rendition, and Cannon's big-noted solo, Tyner improvised. He played small, dashing figures, and some similarly conceived, but slower. He played off-the-beat 10-finger chordal passages, and he hit some of his idiosyncratic, resounding left-hand chords. These start with his hand at least a foot above the keyboard before it descends in a swoop, like a hawk after prey, making the piano roar. In his subsequent solo, Lovano mixed abstraction and tunefulness.
The leader was also powerful on the opening trio number, the Latin-tinged "Angelina." At points, he whammed his left hand down, that rumble setting up glowing right-hand notes. At other points, he laid out contrasting melodies in both hands. "Fly Like the Wind" and "Blues on the Corner," with its catchy theme, were two more where Tyner delivered vibrant, rhythmically charged essays.
The tender "Search for Peace" was a perfect complement to the general high energy of the set. Lovano's reading of the lovely theme emphasized his emotive, singing sound; his solo, his ear for melodic grace. In his solo, Tyner was equally song-like.
Zan Stewart is the Star-Ledger's jazz writer. He is also a musician who occasionally performs at local clubs. He may be reached at zstewart@starledger.com or at (973) 324-9930.
Numerous attributes made Tyner, who opened a six-night stint Tuesday at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village, a lasting influence. Among them, his innovative use of wide intervals that gave jazz a fresh sound; his delicate-to-pile-driver touch, producing gauzy filigrees to massive chords; his formidable solos, which ran from alluring melody to provocative angularity; and his compositions, many now part of the jazz repertoire.
"The Real McCoy" -- made for Blue Note in 1967 with tenorman Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones at Rudy Van Gelder's in Englewood Cliffs -- characterized Tyner's prowess. In the first set Tuesday, he revisited two classics from that recording -- "Search for Peace" and "Blues on the Corner" -- that also appear on his latest CD, "Quartet" (McCoy Tyner Music).
Tyner played with tenorman Joe Lovano, a longtime colleague who is on "Quartet," and his regular trio partners, bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt. And while the leader -- a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship recipient whose Web site is mccoytyner.com -- is not the dynamo he was back in the day, he comes pretty close.
And that is taking into account not only the passing years -- he is now 69 -- but recent bouts of serious illness -- of which he has not spoken publicly, but whose impact is obvious. The toll that time and ill health have taken was revealed Tuesday in his substantial weight loss; in the softness of his raspy-voiced, friendly emcee announcements; and in the slight, aesthetically unimportant, diminution of his formerly stunning technique. Despite all these, Tyner still performed with deep musicality and feeling.
One number that exemplified his continued artistic vitality was his "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit," a 1970s piece that's also on "Quartet." The number is built on a driving left hand piano figure that Cannon picked up, and to which Gravatt added an invigorating beat. After Lovano's engaging theme rendition, and Cannon's big-noted solo, Tyner improvised. He played small, dashing figures, and some similarly conceived, but slower. He played off-the-beat 10-finger chordal passages, and he hit some of his idiosyncratic, resounding left-hand chords. These start with his hand at least a foot above the keyboard before it descends in a swoop, like a hawk after prey, making the piano roar. In his subsequent solo, Lovano mixed abstraction and tunefulness.
The leader was also powerful on the opening trio number, the Latin-tinged "Angelina." At points, he whammed his left hand down, that rumble setting up glowing right-hand notes. At other points, he laid out contrasting melodies in both hands. "Fly Like the Wind" and "Blues on the Corner," with its catchy theme, were two more where Tyner delivered vibrant, rhythmically charged essays.
The tender "Search for Peace" was a perfect complement to the general high energy of the set. Lovano's reading of the lovely theme emphasized his emotive, singing sound; his solo, his ear for melodic grace. In his solo, Tyner was equally song-like.
Zan Stewart is the Star-Ledger's jazz writer. He is also a musician who occasionally performs at local clubs. He may be reached at zstewart@starledger.com or at (973) 324-9930.
Blue Note Blog Series: Blast From The Past
Every once in a while, a "blast from the past" jazz video will be posted. This week's video is a clip from Miles Davis' concert in Paris with Kenny Garrett. The clip shows the last 8 minutes of the Michael Jackson song "Human Nature," most of which highlights Kenny's amazing solo. Kenny's mic isn't working in the clip, so Miles offers him the clip from his trumpet and holds the instrument up to Kenny's bell. Watch, listen and enjoy!
Blue Note Branches out on Monday with Barry Eastmond and Friends
Barry Eastmond is a well-known producer and songwriter, but at the Blue Note this Monday he'll be playing piano and leading a band with some stellar guests - check out this line-up! One night only!Barry Eastmond, piano
Freddie Jackson, vocals
Elisabeth Withers, vocals
Kenny Lattimore, vocals
Gordon Chambers, vocals
and
Lenny Pickett, saxes
Sherrod Barnes, guitar
Alec Shantzis, keys
James Genus, bass
Ralph Rolle, drums
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
McCOY TYNER PICTURES
Tenor Titan Joe Lovano plays all this week with McCoy Tyner and his trio at the Blue Note...
Joe Lovano
McCoy Tyner
Gerald Cannon & Joe Lovano
McCoy TynerMonday, January 14, 2008
COMING UP THIS WEEK: MCCOY TYNER
McCoy Tyner returns to the Blue Note Jan. 15-20 with Joe Lovano in support of his brand new record for McCoy Tyner Music, "Quartet." Check out this excerpt from the article on his recorded legacy by Bill Milkowski in the Jan/Feb issue of JazzTimes...
As McCoy Tyner approached his 69th birthday on Dec. 11, he could look back with a profound sense of pride on an incredibly rich recorded legacy that includes over 80 albums as a leader with Blue Note, Milestone, Impulse!, Columbia, Telarc and other assorted labels, and at least a dozen timeless, hugely influential titles with the John Coltrane Quartet, including Crescent, Live at the Village Vanguard, Ballads and A Love Supreme.
As McCoy Tyner approached his 69th birthday on Dec. 11, he could look back with a profound sense of pride on an incredibly rich recorded legacy that includes over 80 albums as a leader with Blue Note, Milestone, Impulse!, Columbia, Telarc and other assorted labels, and at least a dozen timeless, hugely influential titles with the John Coltrane Quartet, including Crescent, Live at the Village Vanguard, Ballads and A Love Supreme.
Add to that impressive list a whole string of important Blue Note sessions that Tyner made during the mid-1960s with the likes of Wayne Shorter (Juju, Night Dreamer, Soothsayer), Joe Henderson (Inner Urge, Page One, In ’n’ Out), Grant Green (Matador, Solid), Lee Morgan (Tom Cat, Delightfulee), Hank Mobley (A Caddy for Daddy, Slice of the Top, Straight No Filter), Lou Donaldson (Lush Life, Sweet Slumber) and Freddie Hubbard (Open Sesame, Ready for Freddie) and you’ve got the résumé of a jazz legend.
While career retrospectives are generally reserved for retirement parties, Tyner is by no means ready to hang it up. On the contrary, there’s a flurry of activity surrounding Tyner these days. After 50 years as a working musician, he finally has his own imprint (McCoy Tyner Music, under the auspices of Half Note Records), which he launched in September with the release of Quartet. A live outing recorded on New Year’s Eve 2006 at Yoshi’s in Oakland, Calif., it features a potent crew of Joe Lovano on saxophone, Christian McBride on bass and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums. On seven spirited tracks, Tyner demonstrates that he is still very much in command of his fabled technique, dropping in brawny left-hand statements while summoning up cascading right-hand flourishes on his preferred Steinway grand. It’s a quality that was evident on the Philadelphia native’s debut recording as a leader, 1962’s Inceptions.
In the liner notes to that Impulse! trio date with bassist Art Davis and drummer Elvin Jones, Coltrane assesses the pianist’s extraordinary gifts: “First there is his melodic inventiveness and along with that the clarity of his ideas. He also gets a very personal sound from his instrument. In addition, McCoy has an exceptionally well developed sense of form, both as a soloist and accompanist. Invariably, in our group, he will take a tune and build his own structure for it. He is always looking for the most personal way of expressing himself. And finally, McCoy has taste. He can take anything, no matter how weird, and make it sound...
Pick up the issue to read more!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
DELFEAYO MARSALIS @ THE BLUE NOTE, JAN 1-6
We started the New Year off right with Delfeayo Marsalis' tribute to one of our favorites - the late great Elvin Jones. Marsalis, who brought Mark Shim, Mark Gross, and his brother Jason Marsalis with him among others, played in Jones' Jazz Machine for over a decade.
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