NEW SOUNDS OF JAZZ: OMER KLEIN

Omer Klein, who played two packed sets for his CD Release of Heart Beats at the Blue Note in Marchy, is a rising star on the jazz scene in Israel and the United States. Said JazzTimes, "Klein has the potential to achieve something much rarer for a jazz musician: popularity. What he plays is exotic yet accessible and makes you feel fully alive." The video quality doesn't do his sound or that of his band's (Omer Avital, bass; Ziv Ravitz, drums) justice, but his unique compositional and melodic style does come across.

SINATRA BY SINATRA - FRANK SINATRA JR. COMES TO THE BLUE NOTE

Frank Sinatra Jr. will be performing at the Blue Note from May 29 - 31, singing the songs of his father Frank Sinatra Sr. the way he and his fans remember them. Get your tickets while they last!

Jazz.com reviews Michel Camilo's A Place In Time from Spirit of the Moment

Michel Camilo: A Place in Time

Track

A Place in Time

Artist

Michel Camilo (piano)

CD

Spirit of the Moment (Telarc)

Buy Track

Musicians:

Michel Camilo (piano), Charles Flores (bass), Dafnis Prieto (drums).

Composed by Michel Camilo

.

Recorded: 2007

Rating: 92/100 (learn more)

Michel Camilo's Spirit of the Moment is a magnificent recording that captures the kindred spirit of his piano playing. On "A Place in Time," Camilo is more at ease than I have ever heard him on recording. He starts the song off with a slow but moving piano line, which is then followed by Flores' ostinato bass line. This song is very sensual and soft, reminding me of waterfalls over rocks or green ocean water. Camilo states the melody several times but keeps it under control with great harmonic movements as Dafnis Prieto plays very sparing drums with light splash cymbal, here and there.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: BUD POWELL

Bud Powell is one of the founding fathers of modern jazz piano. He's swinging here in 1962 playing "Anthropology."

NYTimes Review - Jack DeJohnette / Danilo Perez / John Patitucci

Music Review - New York Times

Intent on Mystery, a Trio Finds Common Ground

G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times
Jack DeJohnette, Danilo Pérez and John Patitucci: Mr. DeJohnette, above, is performing as part of a trio at the Blue Note.


By NATE CHINEN
Published: April 15, 2009

For about the first 10 minutes of their opening set at the Blue Note on Tuesday night the drummer Jack DeJohnette, the pianist Danilo Pérez and the bassist John Patitucci seemed mildly adrift. Their interaction began as a formless wash with percussive grace notes: bell chimes played with soft mallets, left to resonate. Finally a rhythm emerged, and then a theme, played by Mr. DeJohnette on a melodica. The song, “Tango African,” was his, and it had a center. But its coalescence felt diffuse, like watching weather patterns form.

Perhaps the initial vagueness was a cost of transaction for a trio this intent on mystery. Perhaps it was meant as an invocation. Whatever the case, it was deceptive: once the band limbered up, its actions came as a series of jolts, locking fast into a groove. The musicians found common ground, along with sharp new ways of contesting it.

Their existence as a trio is a fairly recent development. They first joined forces four years ago at the Panama Jazz Festival, over which Mr. Pérez presides as artistic director, and reconvened just last year, in a studio in upstate New York. This week’s run celebrates the release of the resulting album, “Music We Are” (Golden Beams), which features pieces by each player, as well as some improvised group inventions.

There’s overlapping history here, and a prominent active partnership: Mr. Pérez and Mr. Patitucci make up half of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, one of the most magnificent working groups in jazz. But the busiest relationship onstage was the one between Mr. Pérez and Mr. DeJohnette, who each spent stretches of the set in serve-and-volley mode, applying sudden pressure and forcing quick response.

Operating briefly as a duo, they wrung a devastating performance out of “Soulful Ballad,” by Mr. DeJohnette. It moved from a marchlike chordal pattern to a more flowing progression, with piano and melodica swirling around its theme. Mr. DeJohnette imbued his melodica playing with acute expressiveness, a real sense of human breath, and the song, as it developed, grew ripe with emotional suspense.

Another ballad, a traditional Panamanian song called “Panama Viejo,” featured Mr. Patitucci’s bowed bass playing against a gentle stir. Beyond that the music surged and swung. During much of “White,” a faintly Latin-sounding tune by Mr. Pérez, it seemed as if all three of the group’s three virtuosos were soloing at once, but in an intuitive accord with one another.

And “Cobilla,” the closer, was a collective roil, with Mr. Patitucci nimbly playing his six-stringed electric bass, Mr. Pérez doubling on piano and synthesizer and Mr. DeJohnette thundering on his toms. If the set began in shadowy uncertainty, it ended with a definitive flash.

Performances continue through Sunday at the Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village; (212) 475-8592, bluenote.net.

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NEW SOUNDS OF JAZZ: ESPERANZA SPAULDING

Esperanza went from a jazz bass student at Berklee School of Music five years ago to an international star, touring the world with Joe Lovano, becoming a faculty member at Berklee and now recording music under her own name. Look out for this young talent!

FULL WNYC BROADCAST: OMAR SOSA & TIM ERIKSEN ON SOUNDCHECK WNYC

OMAR SOSA & TIM ERIKSEN ON SOUNDCHECK WNYC!

Three-time Grammy-nominated Cuban composer and pianist Omar Sosa has long been influenced by his African roots. On his latest album, Across the Divide, he explores how popular music was shaped by the tunes that entered two ports during the slavery years: Havana and Chesapeake Bay. He talks to WNYC's Soundcheck host, John Schaefer, about it and plays live in the studio.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: FRANK SINATRA

Below, Sinatra sings "I've Got You Under My Skin" from the Songs For Lovers compilation. His son Frank Sinatra Jr. will be performing his father's songs at the Blue Note in a concert called Sinatra By Sinatra at the Blue Note from May 29 - 31. Go to www.bluenotejazz.com for tickets!