2011 Earshot Jazz Festival Underway | The Campbell Brothers
Once again I have been covering the annual Earshot Jazz Festival which presented The Campbell Brothers at the Triple Door last night. Pedal-steel guitar ace Chuck Campbell, his lap-steel playing brother Darick, and their sizzling band deliver devoutly rocking Holiness-Pentecostal repertoire with growling, wailing, swinging steel. The group includes another Campbell brother, Phil (electric guitar) and his son Carlton (drums), as well as Katie Jackson’s soul-curing vocals. Phil mentioned that the band that played late into the Saturday night at a honky tonk downtown, had the same musicians showing up in church Sunday morning to play the gospel music with the service. Its all sacred music to them. See who will be playing this week in upcoming concerts in the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule.
The Campbell Brothers’ Sacred Steel is African-American gospel music with electric steel guitar and vocal. This tradition emerged from the House of God Keith Dominion Church, headquartered in Nashville, where for over sixty years it has been an integral part of worship and a vital, if little known, American tradition. As the music moves from sanctuary to concert hall – including the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and Symphony Space – secular audiences are now able to appreciate a performance both devout and rocking. Pedal steel guitarist Chuck Campbell and his lap steel-playing brother Darick are two of the finest in this tradition. Rounding out the band, which has been playing together for nearly two decades, is a high-energy rhythm section featuring brother Phil Campbell on electric guitar and his son Carlton on drums. Katie Jackson’s classic, gutsy gospel vocals bring the ensemble to a level of energy and expression that defies description. The Campbell Brothers present a compelling, rich variety of material from the African-American Pentecostal repertoire with a new twist: the g
rowling, wailing, shouting, singing and swinging voice of the steel guitar, played as you have never heard it played before.
Chuck Campbell began playing the lap steel guitar at the age of 12. At the age of 17, he became one of the first players to utilize the pedal steel guitar in the House of God Church, Keith Dominion. Campbell is renowned for his innovative approach to the instrument both technically and musically. His use of effects such as distortion and wah pedal and his picking techniques enable him to emulate the human voice in an uncanny fashion, which evokes images of gospel moaning and field singing. His inventive blending of many styles, along with his groundbreaking use of complex chords and fast picking, formed the musical style which is the most emulated among young sacred steel players today.
Darick Campbell first made his mark in music as a drummer. For several years, he was the premier drummer of the General Assembly, the National Convocation of the House of God Church, in Nashville, Tennessee. His choice of the lap steel is a reflection of the influences he has blended to become the most emotional player of the Campbell Brothers’ musical tour d’ force.
Phillip Campbell began life as a drummer but quickly proceeded to the instrument which is arguably his most accomplished, the bass guitar. It was on the bass that he began to explore the many genres which form his eclectic musical personality. Phil combines the rhythmic attributes of the guitar with MIDI guitar synthesis to bring a unique stylistic blend.
Drummer Carl Campbell is the heartbeat of the Campbell Brothers. Carl and dad, Phil, form the rhythmic foundation upon which the Campbell Brothers soulful gospel is built. Formally trained in jazz percussion, Carl has been able to assimilate the classic rudiments of drumming with his improvisational upbringing in church to formulate a style which always finds itself in the groove.
The fact that Katie Jackson is a part of the Campbell Brothers is the result of unbelievably good fortune. She just happened to be “available” when the Campbell Brothers asked her to be the vocalist on their critically acclaimed Pass Me Not disc. Indeed Katie Jackson has shared the stage with some of gospel’s most famous singers, including Mahalia Jackson (no relation) and is well renowned throughout the eastern United States for performances she has given in numerous venues.
– Danielle Bias from the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule.
Bellevue Jazz Festival
Last weekend was the annual 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival and I was once again asked to photograph the event by the producers. Here are a couple of my favorite images so far in my editing of the pictures. Above is a shot of the amazing bassist Evan Flory-Barnes with his group Threat of Beauty as part of the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival last Thursday. Also in the group is Jason Holt on drums and and Jacques Willis on Vibes. Here are a few images from their performance which I throughly enjoyed.
Preeminent violinist Regina Carter put on a fascinatingly beautiful performance last Weds night as she and her band kicked off the opening performance of the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Centre. Almost every performance I covered was a joy to hear.
Earshot Jazz Festival
JAMES CARTER swings with his sax in performance Friday night at the Triple Door as he played with his “HEAVEN ON EARTH” band featuring John Medeski on Hammond B3 and Adam Rogers on guitar, bassist Ralphe Armstrong and drummer Lee Pearson. The sold out first show was extraordinary and well received by the standing room only crowd.
We are starting into the second week of coverage of the annual Earshot jazz Festival and there were a lot of good performances this past week. I want to post a couple of pictures from this week here. the James Carter show was the highlight for me.
Here are some program notes by John Ewing:
“In 2009 James Carter released a record called Heaven on Earth (Half Note Records). It featured a select group of New York based musicians including organist John Medeski, bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Adam Rogers, and drummer Joey Baron. Like many of Mr. Carter’s recordings, it differed greatly from the work that preceded it. His previous release, Present Tense (Emarcy, 2008) portrayed the saxophonist as a rugged traditionalist more than willing to work within pre-established forms without ego driven pyrotechnics. Continue reading at: EarshotJazz
Robert Glasper performing Sunday night at the Triple Door with Vicente Archer on bass and Mark Colenburg on drums. On the heels of his acclaimed Blue Note release, Double Booked, pianist Robert Glasper continues to infuse jazz with hip-hop sensibilities. Glasper played a set that confirms his place on the “short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover,” (latimes.com) with skill and finesse.
More than seven years ago, when in his early 20s, Glasper gave notice while working with Russell Malone, Mark Whitfield, Marcus Strickland, and “neo-soul” star Bilal that he may ascend to jazz-piano fame. A lyrical, rhythmic player, he “excels in providing crisp, melodic statements [with] a nice, lighter touch, and in restraining his considerable chops in the service of space,” said All About Jazz. Raised in Houston, Texas, he has combined lyrical insights with complex, compelling rhythms to emerge as one of the freshest voices in jazz today. He possesses what the New York Times called “percussive intensity, fresh ideas, [and] improvisatory logic.”
The son of a gospel-singing mother, Glasper played piano in church before he reached his teens. At home, he heard gospel, Motown, and R&B, and he also got into jazz, rock, pop, and hip-hop. Moving to New York to study at the New School University, he began playing with Christian McBride, Russell Malone, and Kenny Garrett.
The CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO, Rob Mazurek, primarily on cornet, and Chad Taylor, on various percussion, products of the fertile Chicago improv scene, performed at EMP Saturday night as the Earshot Jazz Festival continues on it’s second day,
The duo, formed in 1997 as one arrangement of the members of the Chicago Underground Collective, describes its music as “an organic mixture of African, electronic, coloristic, jazz-influenced life supporting systematic, non-systematic feeling from two humans trying ever to expand outward and inward for the people and ourselves.”
In another EarshotJazz Festival presentation, the superb quartet of Idaho saxophonist Brent Jensen and Seattle-based all-stars pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer John Bishop celebrated their latest Origin Records release, Motives on Saturday night at Tula’s. It was a superb performance all around of some wonderful music.
Already garnering stellar reviews, the disc is proof of “how many great jazz musicians there are throughout the United States,” according to Jazz Review. Jazz Chicago calls it a “true gem of a recording. This album entrances immediately from the start—beginning with Jensen’s tribute to free jazz pioneer and Ornette Coleman drummer Ed Blackwell…”
While the musicians are well-known to many in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, it is worth mentioning some of their credentials. Jensen currently serves Director of Jazz Studies at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and has performed with a variety of jazz artists, including Gene Harris, Bill Watrous, Lew Soloff, John Stowell, the Manhattan Transfer and the Lionel Hampton Big Band. Pianist Anschell performs regularly with many of Seattle’s finest musicians and has also worked with Nnenna Freelon, Ron Carter, Benny Golson and Russell Malone.
Continue reading at: EarshotJazz Festival
Jazz Photography by Daniel Sheehan
The Kora Band
Something new on the jazz scene is the The Kora Band , in a recent performance at Tula’s, Thursday Sept 9th. They are pianist Andrew Oliver, Brady Millard-Kish, bass, Kane Mathis, kora and guitar, Chad McCullough, trumpet and Mark DiFlorio, drums and percussion.
The 21-string harp played largely by the Mandinka people of West Africa is not usually seen in a jazz band but on Thursday The Kora Band celebrated the release of their newest album “Cascades” which contains a variety of West African pieces, modern repertoire from Congo and Cameroon, as well as originals by Mathis and Oliver with some subtle influences of jazz. Tula’s was crowded for the first two sets and the music was a delightful mixture of African and Jazz sounds and rhythms.
Drummer Mark DiFlorio and pianist Andrew Oliver spent one month staying in Africa and when they returned to the Northwest found the expressive melody of the kora, resonating with them still. They sought out and found kora player Kane Mathis and along with Chad McCullough on trumpet and Brady Millard-Kish on bass, formed the Kora Band, marrying kora and other West African musical traditions with elements of jazz. They put out their first album “Just 4 U” in 2009.
“Performing on the 21-string Mandinka Harp Kane Mathis renders compelling interpretations of these traditional musics. Years of study with generous masters have given Kane a rare opportunity to share these traditions with other cultures. Kane began taking trips to The Gambia, West Africa in 1997 and has continued rigorous study of the Mandinka Kora. Over the past ten years his performances have earned him recognition by the Gambian president, The Gambian minister of culture, and both national television and radio of The Gambia. Kane’s primary kora teachers are Malamini Jobarteh of Brikama, The Gambia and Moriba Kouyate of The Gambia.” from Mathis’s website, Kane Mathis - www.kanemathis.com
Their performance at Tula’s aso kicked off a west coast touring schedule but they will be back at Tula’s on October 15th. I look forward to hearing them again back as they play on the opening day of Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival. To learn more about the band go to the websites of the band: The Kora Band - www.koraband.com and each of the musicians:
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Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photography with an artistic photojournalist style.
Group Portrait Photography | Ask The Ages
Brian Heaney has a new group, Ask The Ages, that he wanted me to photograph so we made a series of informal individual and group portraits outside his house where the jazz group were rehearsing the other day for an upcoming concert on Thursday, July 15, 2010 7:00pm – 8:30pm, at Egan’s Ballard Jam House, 1707 Northwest Market Street Seattle, WA 98107 Pioctured above left to right are:
John Seman, bass, Greg Campbell, drums, Brian Heaney, guitar and Matt Reid, trumpet.
Portrait Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.
Bellevue Jazz Festival | Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes
Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes were wonderful. This was my first time to photograph a piano jazz duo, and it was delightful.
“Husband and wife, Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes, team up for select performances of impassioned, eclectic, and extraordinary piano duets.
Renee Rosnes is one of the premier jazz pianists and composers of her generation. Having toured and recorded with many of the world’s greatest musicians, her resume reads like a who’s who of jazz. As a leader, Ms. Rosnes has released a series of nine inspired recordings on the Blue Note label, which have collectively garnered four Juno awards, the Canadian equivalent of a GRAMMY. She is also a founding member of the all-star band, the SFJAZZ Collective.
For more than a decade, pianist Bill Charlap has been forging a solo career characterized by swing, eloquence and a romantic musical sensibility. Twice GRAMMY nominated, he has released five superb albums for Blue Note records – CDs celebrating the American Songbook tradition, with songs of Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard Bernstein, and George Gershwin and others – that have afforded him an increased visibility as one of jazz’s foremost pianists.”
This was the final performance of the 4 day Bellevue Jazz Festival. I have photographed a lot more of the concerts and will post photographs from them over the next week or two.
I really enjoyed so many of these performances and was happy to have been photographing this festival and happy with many of the pictures I was able to make thanks to the Bellevue Jazz Festival. Hope you enjoyed the festival.
Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photographywith an artistic photojournalist style.
Terence Blanchard at Bellevue Jazz festival
Terence Blanchard put in a wonderful set Saturday night backed by a group of young and up and coming artists.
Sunday June 6th is the final day of the Festival. For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival
A world renowned trumpeter, composer, band leader and Blue Note recording artist, Terence Blanchard is the most prolific jazz musician to ever compose for motion pictures. Blanchard was born and raised in New Orleans where he studied with the Marsalis brothers at the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in 1980. Blanchard originally began performing on Spike Lee’s soundtracks, including “Mo Better Blues” in which he ghosted the trumpet for Denzel Washington.
Blanchard has established himself as one of the most influential jazz musicians and film score masters of his generation, a member of a jazz legacy that has shaped the contours of modern jazz today. With more than 29 albums to his credit, as a musician Blanchard is a multi-GRAMMY Award winner and nominee, winning in 2008 for his instrumental solo for “Be-Bop” on Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival. In addition to receiving the award, Blanchard performed live on the telecast along with other New Orleans artists including Lil’ Wayne, Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who were all joined on-stage by singer Robin Thicke. Also in 2008, Blanchard won a GRAMMY for his CD, A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a beautifully haunting and impassioned song cycle about Hurricane Katrina and the ravages incurred upon the City of New Orleans and its residents.
As a film composer, Blanchard has more than 50 scores to his credit and received a Golden Globe nomination for Spike Lee’s “25th Hour.” In 2008 he completed the score for Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna,” as well as the soundtrack for Darnell Martin’s “Cadillac Records.” Other film music written by Blanchard includes Kasi Lemmons’ “Eve’s Bayou” and “Talk to Me,” Oprah Winfrey’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Tim Story’s “Barbershop” and Ron Shelton’s “Dark Blue.” He is currently working on the score for George Lucas’ “Red Tails” and has already completed musical contributions for the score on Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” set for release this fall.
As Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which he was instrumental in relocating from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Blanchard works with students in the areas of artistic development, arranging, composition and concert programming. He also participates in master classes around the world as well as local community outreach activities in his beloved hometown of New Orleans.
Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photographywith an artistic photojournalist style.
The Bad Plus at the Bellevue Jazz Festival
The Bad Plus drummer David King was all over his drum kit Friday night at Theatre at Meydenbauer Center as the Bellevue Jazz Festival continues. What a great show they put on. David King was outstanding as was bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson.
For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival
Forget categories and catch phrases. The sound of The Bad Plus is distinctive, eclectic and formidable. The Bad Plus have exploded all notions of what a jazz piano trio should sound like, whether at outdoor rock festivals, jazz clubs or symphony halls.
The Bad Plus is a collective made up of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King. All three are from the Midwest and they have known each other since their teens. Nonetheless, with the exception of one unimpressive meeting in 1990, it is only after spending their formative 20s apart — King as member of the seminal indie jazz group Happy Apple, Iverson as the musical director for the Mark Morris Dance Group, Anderson as a prominent up-and-coming player on the New York jazz scene — that they reunited in late 2000 to play a weekend club date in Minneapolis. The chemistry was immediate and obvious. They planned a second gig and a one-day recording session for the indie jazz label Fresh Sound and The Bad Plus was born.
The Los Angeles Times ranked the trio among the leaders of what might be called the Nu Jazz movement. Newsweek declared their 2005 release Suspicious Activity? to be “among the freshest sounding albums of the year”. And according to Rolling Stone, “by any standard, jazz or otherwise, this is mighty, moving music, hot players with hard-rock hearts”. In short, a diverse array of music lovers has been seduced by The Bad Plus and their earnest, dizzying musicianship.
The Los Angeles Times ranked the trio among the leaders of what might be called the Nu Jazz movement. Newsweek declared their 2005 release Suspicious Activity? to be “among the freshest sounding albums of the year”. And according to Rolling Stone, “by any standard, jazz or otherwise, this is mighty, moving music, hot players with hard-rock hearts”. In short, a diverse array of music lovers has been seduced by The Bad Plus and their earnest, dizzying musicianship. Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photography with an artistic photojournalist style. See more work from this Seattle Photographer.
Bellevue Jazz Festival Underway
Once again the Bellevue Jazz Festival is here and Kicking it off at the Meydenbauer Theater was The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO), the Northwest’s premier big band jazz ensemble. Founded in 1995, the 17-piece big band is made up of the most prominent jazz soloists and band leaders in the greater Seattle area. SRJO played a concert of highlights from their 2009-2010 concert season, including hits from their November 2009 “Tribute to Ray Charles” concert (“One Mint Julep,” “Moanin”), their March 2010 “Big Band Monk and Mingus” concert (“Haitian Fight Song” by Mingus, “Misterioso” by Monk), their April 2010 “Birth of the Cool” concert (Boplicity, Rocker), and a new Michael Brockman composition for the SRJO titled “Passage Noir.” Featured soloists included trumpeter Jay Thomas, baritone saxophonist Bill Ramsay, pianist Randy Halberstadt, tenor saxophonist Hadely Caliman and Travis Ranney, trombonists Dan Marcus and David Marriott, plus alto saxophonists Mark Taylor and Michael Brockman. Here are some highlights from the concert.
For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival
Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photography with an artistic photojournalist style. See more work from this Seattle Photographer.
Jazz Portrait | Jessica Lurie
While backing up some folders I came across this picture of Jessica Lurie. I photographed Jessica Lurie in an alley in Pioneer Square here in Seattle, a few years ago just before she packed up and moved to Brooklyn, New York. I had previously photographed her with her group Living Daylights and I have been following her since then. She seems to be playing everywhere from Europe to back here on occasion.
Her next gig looks like it will be Sat May 15 8:00 PM I wish I could be in NY for this one.
Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn, NY – * MARC RIBOT * JESSICA LURIE * MARTY EHRLICH * ROY NATHANSON * GREG COHEN PRACTICING A concert and conversation moderated by Professor Tamar Barzel Five world-class musicians.
Composer/improvisers with wide interests and adventuresome ideas. Where do their creative selves and their Jewish selves meet? Do they meet at all? On Saturday, May 15 at 8 pm, Marc, Jessica, Marty, Roy, and Greg will join Professor Barzel for an evening of words and music in which they’ll explore the (possible) role of things Jewish in their own not-obviously-Jewish creative work. Solos, duos, trios, quartets. The evening is open to possibility. Come, listen in on the conversation, consider these questions with us, and enjoy a performance of original music and creative improvisation by these sensational artists.
Guitarist Marc Ribot has “a stunningly original guitar style that channels the primal power of blues, jazz and early rock while exploding the conventions of each style” (Guitar Player). “A little rock, a little bebop, a little free improvisation, and a good dose of Eastern European melody and harmony: these are the sources for saxophonist Jessica Lurie’s unique creative voice” (Le Monde). Clarinetist Marty Ehrlich is “one of his time’s most original thinkers [with] a rare and wonderful talent” (The Nation). “In a world of useless shouting things,” saxophonist/composer Roy Nathanson’s project Sotto Voce “is sane, funny, beautiful and intimate” (Elvis Costello). “Contemporary jazz does not get any better than this” (Birmingham Post) if it involves bassist Greg Cohen, who has performed and recorded in innumerable styles with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Laurie Anderson, Ornette Coleman, and the Rolling Stones. Tamar Barzel is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Wellesley College whose research is situated at the intersection between New York City’s downtown music scene and Jewish cultural studies.
Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan covering jazz performances, creating portrait photography for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.
Gebhard Ullman
Gebhard Ullman Clarinet Trio
Last week I was assigned to photograph the Gebhard Ullman Clarinet Trio. I was not sure what to expect from a trio of clarinets coming out of Berlin, but I was taken aback by the talents of Gebhard Ullman, Juergen Kupke and Michael Thieke and their music from their opening number as they slowly strolled through the house to the stage, to the finale. An amazing amount of variety from such a tight ensemble of reed players. Their music was swinging and sophisticated and somewhere out there to the mysterious, abstract yet strangely accessible.
From the Earshot Jazz Magazine program notes “Ullmann is a follow-up guy in a world of intermittency. We hear sounds in snippets, music in simple, single song structures, see acts come and go with astonishing speed. Yes, improvisers come up with different ideas constantly, never uttering the same exact thing twice, but the extended suite on Ullmann’s new Ballads and Related Objects comes back again and again to a series of firefly-like blinks, woody auras with sonic embers around the core combustion, as on “Variations on a Theme by Claude Debussy.” But the blinks go to yelps and clarinet shouts, barking that front-ends a chatter of clarinet/alto clarinet/bass clarinet, a recurring intensity.
Ullmann sees his follow-ups more concretely, too: “However I may seem to go in different directions at the same time, I follow up most of the formats for many years. Mostly more than a decade.” He’s right, too, bringing bands back time and again to explore the platform, to survey how the ensemble has grown as individuals. Ballads is the third session from Ullmann, Jurgen Kupke (clarinet), and Michael Thieke (alto clarinet), and as it’s released, Ullmann is also putting out another date with trombone madman, Steve Swell. The simply named Ullmann/Swell 4 spills out News? No News!, a rambunctious blurt of energetic action that records no distance or creative tension between Ullmann, a Berlin transplant who spends most of his time in Europe, and the New Yorker. One could imagine the difference in scenes, Europe more friendly to the avant-garde, North America more occupied by its love for the mainstream, its measuring of art by the yardstick of commerce. But Ullmann resists the characterization: “We are all trying to move forward musically and be able to survive. There is no difference,” he replies when questioned on how we differ on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
As for the Clarinet Trio, Ullmann infuses the music with what qualities he sees in Thieke and Kupke: “They bring in contemporary music, performance, jokes.” He’s emphatic about their musical potency, too: “You never heard a trio like this. It is at times more than a trio almost an orchestra. It is all of my woodwind music.” Like ROVA and the WSQ before them, the Trio does indeed encompass Ullmann’s many interests, his core. “Be it bands like Henry Cow or Can, be it the classical music I grew up with or the contemporary composed music I listened to as a teenager, composers like Lutoslawski, Henze or Stockhausen,” he comments, the woodwind elements didn’t exist. And even as some of Ullmann’s impetus was to “transpose to wind instruments” what he heard in music that did not feature them, he also knows that “minimalistic techniques and techniques using overtones, multiphonics and such [can] give the impression of more than 3 players,” enabling the ensemble to move beyond some of the limitations of the source material. Continue reading here. Jazz Photographer and Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan covers jazz performances, creates portrait photography for publications and corporations and is a Seattle Wedding Photographer, wedding photography with an artistic photojournalist style.
The Charles Lloyd New Quartet in Seattle
The Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, & Eric Harland playing at Town Hall.
All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.
It was a beautiful new group Charles Lloyd brought to town earlier this month. I have been meaning to post some photos from this performance and here they are. If you missed the show it was a wonderful performance. Charles is one of my all time favorite musicians. And so is Jason Moran. I was happy to get the chance to hear Eric Harland and Reuben Rogers play as well.
These cats were very intense and yet the music was very spiritual.
“Since the 1960s, tenor saxophonist and flautist Charles Lloyd’s life has alternated between periods of musical and personal exploration. After spending a decade or so working as a sideman in different blues and jazz groups, Lloyd hit a goldmine of critical acclaim and popular support in with his quartet’s groundbreaking performance at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival (no small feat in a period when jazz’s audiences were largely moving in new directions). This particular group was notable not just for Lloyd’s debut as a fresh and exciting leader, but also because two of its members, Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette, were themselves only a few years away from exploding as widely innovative and influential jazz musicians….
Lloyd’s New Quartet is fortified with relatively young but well-established jazz musicians who are fully capable of sharing Lloyd’s pursuits. A leader in his own right, Jason Moran (piano) brings the group a unique, mature second lead voice. He’s one of those pianists who sometimes convince you that you’re listening to 80 years of jazz piano history rolled into one set of fingers. His heavy left hand will dabble in vintage 1920s stride playing right before flowing through a sequence that breaks into advanced Andrew Hill territory, while his frank, direct solos often develop in unpredictable turns that take full advantage his repertoire’s diverse influences.
On stage, when Lloyd himself isn’t soloing, he doesn’t just stand there; he frequently can’t resist dancing to the pulsing, breathing rhythms provided by his fellow musicians. Reuben Rogers (bass) and Eric Harland (drums/percussion) form a reliable, gregarious backbone that’s perfect for bringing the exotic structures in Lloyd’s compositions to life. Whether the tune is funky, swinging, Latin, or has no definable rhythm at all, the team decorates it with outbursts that always feel natural and appropriate….” – Nathan Bluford from the Earshot Jazz program guide. Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.
Guardian (UK) Steals Photo from Photographer
This is Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan’s photo of Larry Ochs that the Guardian (UK) used without permission and without a photo credit on their website with an article headlined “Spanish fan calls police over saxophone band who were just not jazzy enough” All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.
After discovering their unauthorized use a day or so afterwards I wrote to their music editor at music.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk but he has not yet seen fit to respond. I am now pondering what my next move will be. UPDATE: I have received word from the Guardian that they are sorry they used the photo without permission and offered payment and then some for for their use.
Click on jazz photography to see the original blog post on my jazz photography website eyeshotjazz where the photo was first posted last year.
Here is their story:
“Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him. That changed on Monday night however, when’s Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs’s music was not, well, jazz.
Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music. The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was “psychologically inadvisable” for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.
According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case. His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.
“The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back,” said the festival director, Ricardo Checa. ”He didn’t get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme. He added: “The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.”
“Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned.” ”I thought I had seen it all,” Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. “I was obviously mistaken.” ”After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren,” the California-based saxophonist added.”
Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.
Earshot Jazz Festival Closes with Evan Flory-Barnes
Evan Flory-Barnes conducts his ensemble in the premiere performance of his large chamber composition ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A CELEBRATION at Town Hall in the final presentation of the 2009 Earshot Jazz Festival.
What a great performance by the orchestra moving through a fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and classical music, complete with modern dancers and freestyle break dancers. The Seattle bassist and composer is excited premiering the large chamber work, a snapshot of the abundance of inspiration that can thread artistic mediums together in Seattle. The premiere of Acknowledgement of a Celebration features 35 musicians and ten dancers set to Flory-Barnes’s new compositions.
Flory-Barnes performs with an inclusive passion and expressive intensity, as though he were completely immersed in music. He regularly brings his trio, The Teaching, to the Lucid jazz club in the University District for an open community jam and hang. The Teaching appeared in the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.
The View From Good Shepherd Center
I was photographing the group 2nd Century Savage, at the Earshot Jazz concert series: Jazz: The Second Century at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford last Thursday, and it turned out not to be as hot as it was on Weds. There was a cool breeze drafting in the windows as the Good Shepherd Center sits on top of a hill and the space is on the 4th floor with a view of the sun setting over the Olympics. I was taken by the backlighting on this tree and focused on it rather than the sunset.
2nd Century Savage is saxophonist, flutist, and composer John C. Savage with electronica artist, vusac (aka Isaac Peachin). Their mission, they say, is to expand the definition of jazz to include electronic instruments and live production techniques in tandem with contemporary jazz improvisation. The results are haunting, transporting, and strikingly novel. Their performances give the impression of swirling planes of sound, some melodic and familiar, some protean and mysterious, folding through untold dimensions of space and the mind.
Photograph by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits for publications and corporations, and photojournalistic Seattle wedding photography.
Panoramic Group Portrait
Phil Kelly has been working on a new CD project,out at Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville recently, his first big band jazz album under his own name, “Convergence Zone” which is scheduled for fall release on Origin Records. I got to make a panoramic photo of the whole band on a break out behind the studio. Phil is seated at right.
In addition to more than 40 years as a composer / arranger for film, TV, and other media applications, Phil Kelly has written for bands like Bill Watrous’ NY Wildlife Refuge, the Old Tonight show band , Doc Severinsen, Si Zentner, as well as functioning as arranger/ conductor / drummer for vocalists Buddy Greco, Julius LaRosa, Frank D’Rone, Sylvia Syms, John Gary, Jenny Smith, and Al ‘TNT’ Braggs among others..
Early on in his career, he also logged several years as a jazz drummer with artists such as Terry Gibbs ,Red Garland, and Denny Zeitlin as well as years of work as a studio and recording drummer. In addition to his film and TV writing, He has written music for over 500 national commercials , ESPN, ABC Sports , NFL Films, and industrial films and shows for Cadillac, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, American Airlines and Zales Jewelers.
His website is at http://www.philkellymusic.com/
Jazz Singers
I photographed Dianne Reeves and Kurt Elling last night at the Belllevue Jazz Festival. What a treat. Two of the top jazz vocalists around today. Dianne Reeves performed last night in the Meydenbauer Center with her Strings Attached ensemble featuring guitarists Russell Malone and Romero Lubambo. They were fantastic. I last photographer Russell at the Triple Door back in March playing a duet with Bill Frisell.
Kurt Elling performed with Laurence Hobgood on piano, Rob Amster on bass, and Ulysses Owens Jr on drums. The trio created a great sound backing Kurt in a marvelous performance. He was so cool and suave.
Seattle Music Photography
I photographed Wayne Horvitz during a sound check before his performance at the 2006 Earshot Jazz Festival at the Triple Door. He was laying with the Gravitas Quartet. A beautiful group. What I really like about this photograph is the backlight making almost a complete silhouette. It is really nice to have access to different angles during a soundcheck instead of shooting from the audience. I am going to add this to my editorial website splash page. I like the feeling of it. Maybe it is too quiet?
Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations and a Seattle wedding photographer with an unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning Seattle wedding photography and wedding photojournalism ranked among the best Seattle wedding photographers.
Editorial Portrait of Wayne Horvitz
Photograph of Seattle based musican and composer Wayne Horvitz conducting the New York Composers Orchestra, East and West
The New York Composers Orchestra was formed in 1986 by composers Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb as a means to perform works by composers wishing to write for jazz instrumentation without being confined by traditional jazz and big band styles. In New York, the orchestra was commissioned to perform works by Anthony Braxton, Lenny Picket, Butch Morris, Marty Ehrlich, and Elliott Sharp, among many others. After Horvitz and Holcomb relocated to Seattle in 1988, however, the NYCO repertoire spread out across the US – it has been performed by the original ensemble in New York City, Horvitz and Holcomb’s New York Composers Orchestra West, which very occasionally performed here in Seattle, and the Boston-based Jazz Composers Alliance, which has also showcased some of its scores.
Opportunities to hear large orchestras as adventurous as this, featuring musicians as gifted as this, are few and far between. As Rolling Stone has noted: “The NYCO points directions out of the musical prison that surround too much current jazz. And, like all truly great big bands, it swings its tail off.”
In this Seattle revival, Horvitz presented a stellar lineup of old friends from New York days along with some of the outstanding Seattleites whom he recruited to his cause early in his time here: on reeds, Hans Teuber, Briggan Krauss, Skerik, Doug Wieselman, and Jim Dejoie; on trumpets, Ron Miles, Brad Allison, and Thomas Marriott; on trombones, Chris Stover and Nelson Bell; on French horn, Tom Varner; on drums, Bobby Previte; on bass, Phil Sparks; on piano and organ, Wayne Horvitz. Robin Holcomb conducts and plays piano. With special guest, on guitar: Tim Young.
Seattle Photographer at the Movies
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra West, Wednesday, November 5, King Cat Theater
This was something different in the course of the Earshot Jazz Festival. There are always some surprising shows and this was one of them.
New York-trumpeter Steven Bernstein conducts his fine nine-piece band, which typically explores the largely-lost music of the bluesy, loose-territory bands. Tonight he performed in accompaniment to three Laurel and Hardy silent films on the screen behind him at the King Kat Theatre and he and the band had a lot of fun with it as did the audience. The Laurel and Hardy films were classic treasures.
Steven Bernstein likes to have his cake and eat it too. The Grammy-nominated trumpeter is one of the hardest-working musicians to come out of New York’s “downtown scene.” He recently released three critically-acclaimed CDs on John Zorn’s Tzadik label and has had his music featured on MTV, Saturday Night Live, and National Public Radio.
His ensemble, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, is an outgrowth of his immersion in the sound of the Midwestern swing bands from Robert Altman’s movie Kansas City. The ensemble was formed in 1999 for a series of midnight shows at New York’s Tonic nightclub, and they subsequently spent a year and a half in residency at the Jazz Standard. The group, a collection of distinctive musical personalities, recently released its debut recording, MTO Vol. 1, on Sunnyside Records. This is sure to be an edge-of-your-seat performance, featuring swing band adaptations of several rock and soul genre classics, led by this wonderfully “left of center” musician.
Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival
Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in jazz photography, photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle wedding photographer with an unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning wedding photojournalism among Seattle wedding photographers.
Bill Cosby Jazz
Bill Cosby sits in with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra Saturday, November 1, Nordstrom Recital Hall/Benaroya Hall
Bill Cosby was scheduled to appear at Benaroya Hall but before he went on he wandered over to the Nordstrom Recital Hall to visit with his old friend James Moody who was scheduled to appear with the SRJO. It was then that he invited himself to make a surprise guest appearance with the SRJO too. So to the delight of the Orchestra and the audience he came onstage and after a brief consultation began playing Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train” with very funny interjections.
The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra is the Northwest’s premier big band jazz ensemble. Founded in 1995, the 17-piece band is made up of the region’s leading jazz instrumentalists, both young and old. Committed to presenting the great works of jazz, the SRJO’s repertoire is drawn from the past 100 years of jazz history, including works by Fletcher Henderson, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Thad Jones, and of course, Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival
Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in jazz photography, photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle wedding photographer with a subtle, unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning wedding photojournalism ranking him among the best Seattle wedding photographers.
Seattle Photographer at Earshot
Ravi Coltrane Quartet Thursday, October 30, Triple Door
Just got back from shooting the wonderful Ravi Coltrane at the Triple Door, one of my favorite jazz venues. Ravi and the Quartet were in good form performing with an amazing intensity. You got to get out and see some of these wonderful performances that Earshot Jazz festival is bringing to Seattle. There are still some wonderful shows coming up especially this coming weekend. I am looking forward to seeing the legendary Charlie Hayden on Saturday at Town Hall.
Like his legendary father, John Coltrane, tenor and soprano saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Ravi Coltrane is dedicated to walking his own musical path. Considered one of the driving forces in modern jazz today, Coltrane was initially influenced by soul and funk music, R&B, classical music, and film scores before beginning formal musical studies at the California Institute of the Arts in 1986.
After meeting drummer Elvin Jones in 1991, Coltrane relocated to New York, where he performed with a variety of players, including Rashied Ali, Kenny Barron, and Steve Coleman. He toured regularly with Coleman and appeared on several of Coleman’s albums before producing his first CD, Moving Pictures, in 1997. Since then, Coltrane has produced five more albums, including Legacy, a four-disc, thematic study of his father’s career; Translinear Light, a collaborative project with his mother, pianist Alice Coltrane; and In Flux, featuring pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer E.J. Strickland – his primary ensemble since 2003. In addition to working and touring with his band, Coltrane launched his own recording company, RKM Music, in 2002. He has also performed with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, and Branford Marsalis, among others.
Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival
Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in jazz photography, photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle wedding photographer with a subtle, unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning wedding photojournalism ranking him among the best Seattle wedding photographers.
Cecil Taylor's Socks
Cecil Taylor’s Socks as he performed at Town Hall Sunday Oct 26th
I photographed Cecil Taylor last night at Town Hall. He was appearing as part of the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival. His music was sublime and transporting. it took me to a different universe. But what would bring me back to earth was looking at his socks as he played.
For more than half a century Taylor has pursued his own musical path with the utmost integrity and determination. Composing for and directing unique large ensembles, working in any number
of his well-established small groups, or performing in the solo piano setting which he has mastered, the consistent theme of Taylor’s storied life has been the extraordinary nature of his work.
Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival
Photograph by editorial photographer Daniel Sheehan a photojournalist who specializes in portrait photography and photojournalism for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle wedding photographer photographing weddings with a subtle, unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating artistic documentary photography ranking him as one of the best Seattle wedding photographers.
William Claxton, Photographer of Cool
Photo: Gray Friedman/ Los Angeles Times
Photojournalist William Claxton died on Sunday at age 80 due to complications from congestive heart failure. He was well known for his iconic pictures of Chet Baker and other musicians as well as celebrities like Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra.
He is one of the photojournalist I have admired for many years. He inspired me to follow the same road of photography by including jazz musicians as a worthy subject. I love this quote Claxton told jazz writer Don Heckman some years ago.
“For the photographer, the camera is like a jazz musician’s ax. It’s the tool that you would like to be able to ignore, but you have to have it to convey your thoughts and whatever you want to express through it,”
Almost as much as the recordings themselves, the photographs reach into the essence of making music.
“That’s where jazz and photography have always come together for me,” Claxton told Heckman. “They’re alike in their improvisation and their spontaneousness. They happen at the same moment that you’re hearing something and you’re seeing something, and you record it and it’s frozen forever.”
He gained his foremost public recognition for his photographs of jazz performers including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Stan Getz. But it was his photographs of Baker that helped teach him the true meaning of the word photogenic.
“I was up all night developing when the face appeared in the developing tray,” Claxton told the Irish Times in 2005. “A tough demeanor and a good physique but an angelic face with pale white skin and, the craziest thing, one tooth missing — he’d been in a fight. I thought, my God, that’s Chet Baker.”
Claxton’s relationship with Baker began in 1951 and he continued to photograph Baker for the next 6 years in an attempt to capture the relationship between artist, instrument and music on film.
From: latimes.com