On the Vanguard with Esperanza and Vijay

It hasn’t taken Esperanza Spalding long to emerge as one of the brightest lights in the musical world, with a unique and style-spanning presence deeply rooted in jazz yet destined to make her mark far beyond the jazz realm. Just last year she became the first jazz musician to receive the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Her new CD — “Radio Music Society” — is a companion of sorts to her last release, “Chamber Music Society.” As the bassist and singer explains, “Originally I thought it would be fun to release a double album. One disc with an intimate, subtle exploration of chamber works and a second one in which jazz musicians explore song forms and melodies that are formatted more along the lines of what we would categorize at ‘pop songs.'” The music on the new disc is realized by many of the brilliant musicians who are part of Esperanza’s ever-expanding universe, including Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington, Lionel Loueke and Billy Hart.

Pianist/composer Vijay Iyer’s career has moved on an ever-accelerating arc over the past decade-and-a-half, with the Indian-American artist earning a slew of international honors for his intrepid, multi-hued vision of 21st-century music. The latest chapter of this compelling story in contemporary jazz comes with the Vijay Iyer Trio’s “Accelerando” — a CD driven by the visceral, universal, intoxicating experience of rhythm. He and his band mates-bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore-light up material that ranges from a brace of bold Iyer originals and pieces by great composers like Ellington, Herbie Nichols and Henry Threadgill to surprising interpretations of vintage and recent pop and funk tunes by Michael Jackson, Heatwave and Flying Lotus.

A groundbreaking exhibition, “Teenie Harris, Photographer: an American Story” opened at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh in October. It celebrates this artist/photographer whose work is considered one of the most complete portraits of the 20th Century African American experience. “Hill District Beat” is an enhanced CD featuring over 100 of Harris’ most iconic images of luminaries of his day synced to an original soundtrack performed by the MCG Jazz All Stars. This collection of musicians associated with the MCG Jazz family includes pianist David Budway, bassist Dwayne Dolphin, drummer Roger Humphries and trumpeter Tom Williams.

For the last fifteen years or so, Kathy Kosins has become famous as one of the most successful jazz singers of the contemporary era. Since 2010, she has adapted to the changing needs of the music industry by releasing a regular series of digital singles. So, when she announces a new album, it’s abundantly clear that this won’t be just an arbitrary assemblage of random tunes, but a very special collection of specific songs connected to each other. The new CD, her fifth, is titled “To the Ladies of Cool” and the songs all derive from the repertoire of four canonical female singers of the 1950s: Anita O’Day, June Christy, Chris Connor, and Julie London. Kosins has sifted through an enormous selection of songs and found the ones that match her voice and style, creating a ‘toast’ to four artists who continue to inspire her.

2012 NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan’s performances are always intriguing blends of imaginative music making and deeply felt, richly emotional storytelling. More than many performing artists, she lays her life on the line with everything she sings. And more than any other jazz vocalist she reflects the power of the instrumentalists who shaped her musical life. She alone, it seems, can combine Rolllins’ drive and Parker’s soaring invention with Ella’s spunk and Billie’s passion. Sheila has always enjoyed performing in duet with an acoustic bassist. For her new CD — “Yesterdays” — a previously unreleased performance from 1990, she’s in a live setting with Harvie S.

Known for his ability to create masterful studio recordings of his sweeping, cinemagraphic musical visions, guitarist John Moulder transports a live audience at Chicago’s venerable Green Mill Jazz Club on his new CD, “The Eleventh Hour.” Of the performance, the Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich wrote “…the music-making often achieved a quiet serenity, bringing a capacity audience to a whisper. There’s simply no way to converse when music of such profundity and grace is unfolding.” Along with saxophonist Geof Bradfield, pianist Jim Trompeter, Larry Gary on bass, and his long-time collaborator Paul Wertico on drums, Moulder adds another dimension to his powerful body of recorded work.

“There are a few more emphatically dazzling drummers working today, but almost nobody in Wilson’s peer group with a broader sense of jazz history, or a more natural sense of time, or a stronger signature as a bandleader, or more goodwill among his fellow players.” That’s Nate Chinen of Jazz Times magazine speaking of Matt Wilson, who is beloved world-wide for being one of jazz music’s most imaginative, entertaining and fun-loving spirits. He was voted 2011 Drummer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, an honor he was also awarded in 2003. In addition to maintaining an active schedule as a performer, bandleader and recording artist, Wilson is a dedicated teaching artist. His outreach work and reputation as a community builder has helped establish him as a treasured ambassador for the music. “An Attitude for Gratitude” is the fourth release by his award-winning Arts & Crafts ensemble, an extraordinary collective of musical personalities featuring Wilson, trumpeter Terell Stafford, keyboardist Gary Versace and bassist Martin Wind.

Steve Turre demonstrates once again why he is one of the first call trombonists in the world on his new disc — “Woody’s Delight” — an aptly named homage to his mentor and former boss, Woody Shaw. “He liked trumpet and saxophone,” says Turre,” but thought it had been done to the max…Woody said our group with trumpet and trombone was ‘fresh air,’ the favorite of all the groups he’d had.” Turre offers an intensely interesting program featuring five of today’s greatest trumpeters in a program that captures at once Shaw’s fierce intensity, his limitless imagination and versatility. On hand to help are trumpeters Jon Faddis, Wallace Roney, Claudio Roditi, Freddie Hendrix and Chocolate Armenteros.

If you aren’t already familiar with the eight artists who make up the SF Jazz Collective, you will be. As soloists, composers and bandleaders, they represent what’s happening now in jazz. More than master instrumentalists, each member is possessed of a totally individual creative voice, working collectively to express a unified musical identity. They also demonstrate that jazz has truly become an international language. Hailing from Puerto Rico, Israel, Venezuela, New Zealand and the U.S., the Collective’s multi-cultural line-up mirrors the explosion of jazz talent around the globe. Familiar players like Miguel Zenon, Robin Eubanks, Avishai Cohen, Stefon Harris and others were recorded at the Jazz Standard in New York across a five-night run for “Live in New York 2011-Season 8” featuring fresh arrangements of the music of Stevie Wonder and original compositions by group members.

Drummer/composer Johnathan Blake has been an integral part of the working groups of Tom Harrell, David Sanchez, Russell Malone and Kenny Barron for years. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he is the son of jazz violinist John Blake and carries on the family tradition of great music making. Though he is extremely active as a sideman, Blake has made a concerted effort to create his own ensemble with a sound. He was able accomplish this by enlisting a true murderer’s row of jazz heavy hitters, friends and longtime collaborators, including saxophonists Jaleel Shaw and Mark Turner and bassist Ben Street. For his debut CD — “The Eleventh Hour” — he’s also included special guests Harrell, Robert Glasper, Tim Warfield and Gregoire Maret.

Elio Villafranca and Arturo Stable, two Cuban-born maestros of jazz and world music,
unveil “Dos Y Mas” — the debut recording of their new piano and percussion collaboration. The intimate musical journey was sparked nine years ago when the pair met for the first time while working for Jane Bunnett’s Spirits of Havana band. Together and separately, the two have developed loyal followings both as leaders and for their work with Wynton Marsalis, Pat Martino, Esperanza Spalding and others. Villafranca’s virtuosic and multifaceted pianism engages Stable’s poly-rhythmic percussion genius on 10 originals that pay tribute to the spiritual, classical and traditional legacies of Cuba, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Spain.

Saxophonist Bruce Babad is best known for his recordings with Luther Hughes’ Cannonball/Coltrane Project and the Bill Holman Band. On his new release — “A Tribute to Paul Desmond” — recorded live at the A-Frame in Hollywood, Babad reveals his cool, lyrical style as he pays homage to the jazz master. Doug Ramsey, author of “Take Five: the Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond,” says Babad “approximates Desmond’s relaxation and lyricism with imitating him. From a pure sound standpoint, he is almost eerily like his predecessor, but in the blowing choruses his harmonic approach and tonal characteristics earmark his individuality.”

By the late 1970s, trailblazing keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber had become a prominent figure in the new movement know as jazz fusion-a marriage of traditional jazz with elements of rock, R&B, funk and other electrified sounds. The Jeff Lorber Fusion first honed their craft on the Portland, Oregon, club scene and rapidly expanded their reach to a national and international audience via a combination of complex harmonies, unconventional time signatures and compelling rhythms. More than three decades after his earliest recordings. Lorber comes full circle with “Galaxy.” Yellowjackets’ bassist Jimmy Haslip joins him in this 21st Century version of the band along with Randy Brecker, Eric Marienthal, Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta and Lenny Castro.

The Austrian-born Hans Glawischnig has been a first call bassist in New York for over a decade now. His playing has been especially highly regarded by the Latin community as he has been featured in groups led by artists like Paquito D’Rivera, Miguel Zenon and Ray Barretto. For his third release — “Jahira” — Glawischnig debuts a new trio featuring his own explorations of the acoustic bass. The title is an acronym for the group’s credo, “jazz history roundabout,” which applies to the ensemble’s use of elements from the entire breadth of jazz’s history to inform their sound. The bassist decided on a trio setting because of his regard for the intimacy of the smaller ensembles of Sonny Rollins and Charlie Haden. The musicians he chose for the group are exceptional young talents, saxophonist Samir Zarif and drummer Eric Doob.