Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
John Shifflett (1953-2017) was a beloved bassist, well-known as THE sideman in many of the San Francisco Bay Area’s foremost ensembles and for traveling jazz dignitaries. Born and raised in Dubuque, John got his start teaching at the University of Iowa, his alma mater. He played on hundreds of albums, including those by Scott Amendola, Taylor Eigsti, John Stowell and Michael Zilber. Kept more as a guarded secret was his compositional skills and library of compelling and varied pieces of music. Saxophonist Kristen Strom, guitarist Scott Sorkin and drummer Jason Lewis played with John in their quartet and on countless other projects over the last 25 years. For their deeply heartfelt tribute to their friend, “Moving Day: the Music of John Shifflett,” the trio has arranged a collection of his compositions and brought together some of his esteemed Bay Area colleagues to perform, record and celebrate his music.
Since arriving in New York City, bass phenom Alexander Claffy has worked with a staggering array of artist spanning generations and styles: elders like Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, George Coleman and Harold Mabern as well as modern and rising stars including Christian Scott, Roy Hargrove, Jeremy Pelt, Chris Botti and Joey Alexander. His sophomore recording, “Standards: What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” features a collection of familiar standards spanning several generations, from the American Songbook tradition to mid-20th century jazz classics to a Beatles favorite. The core of his band includes two longtime inspirations, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and pianist Dave Kikoski, as well as the acclaimed saxophonist Joel Frahm.
Also this week, 82-year-old trumpeter and western Canadian jazz icon Al Muirhead presents his most intriguing project to date, “Undertones,” featuring him on the rare bass trumpet with his new Canadian quintet;
Composer and arranger Mark Masters has brought together Gary Foster, Tim Hagans, Oliver Lake, Mark Turner and others to perform his new compositions on “Our Metier”;
and pianist Scott Routenberg offers up a new trio recording, “Supermoon,” featuring drummer Cassius Goens, who studied at the University of Iowa and was a presence on the Eastern Iowa jazz scene for several years.