Saxophonist

Happy Jazz Day!

Posted by Hannah Whisenant

April 30th is Jazz Day! If you’re looking to celebrate, there’s a special virtual concert. Read more about Jazz Day and a little about it’s history below!

BY TREVOR SMITH (NPR)

While the world has gone relatively quiet amid the coronavirus pandemic, International Jazz Day plans on bringing some joyful sounds from across the globe together in celebration of the music. Jazz Day, which falls on April 30 of each year, was initially established in 2011 by musician and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock to bring together communities worldwide to celebrate the humanity of the universal art form through workshops, discussions and an all-star global concert.

Cape Town, South Africa, was supposed to host this year’s celebrations, but the events were canceled in late March due to the pandemic. Instead, the day’s activities will remain truly international by taking place online and hosted by Hancock.

Featured Events:

  • International Jazz Day Panel with Nate Chinen
    Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
  • International Jazz Day Global Concert
    Time: 3 p.m. ET

The marquee Global Concert, which begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on jazzday.com, will feature streamed performances from bassist Marcus Miller (U.S.), pianist Lang Lang (China), saxophonist Igor Butman (Russia), vocalist Youn Sun Nah (South Korea), and bassist Alune Wade (Senegal), among other worldwide leaders in the genre.

In the spirit of Jazz Day’s mission of inclusion, a free series of educational master classes and children’s activities in six languages conducted by renowned musicians will be streamed in the hours leading up to the concert. The pre-concert program will also include a panel discussion on the importance of art and the international community during the public health crisis, hosted by NPR Music and WBGO’s Nate Chinen and featuring performer Marcus Miller and South African vocalist Sibongile Khumalo.

Despite the need to celebrate Jazz Day in isolation this year, Herbie Hancock remains optimistic in the message and impact of the festivities.

“Now more than ever before,” he says, “let’s band together and spread the ethics of Jazz Day’s global movement around the planet and use this as a golden opportunity for humankind to reconnect.”

More information can be found on jazzday.com.Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.

TAGS: Herbie HancockInternational Jazz DayJazzMusic


40 Years Of Mondays: One Saxophonist’s Addiction To The Fringe

Posted by kjem

I was an 18-year-old saxophone student at Berklee College of Music when my new best friend, a trumpeter named Willy Olenick, told me about The Fringe. “You’ve got to hear this band,” he said. “They’re an amazing trio. You can hear them any Monday night at Michael’s and you’re nuts not to go.”

Willy didn’t mention anything about what style they played, and I didn’t ask. I just took his advice and went.

Michael’s was a small, narrow bar behind Symphony Hall in Boston. There was a WPA mural on the wall. They only served beer and wine, and let’s just say a contingent of a few regulars might have been there just for the Rolling Rocks. (In fact, they may have been there all day for the Rolling Rocks.) A man named Bill was at the front door at night, collecting the $2 cover charge. Michael himself manned the bar.

Frankly, on first hearing The Fringe, I wasn’t sure what was happening. The trio took the stage, and I don’t think I was even sure when the set started. At some point, I realized that this music was not like the other jazz I had heard. Until that time, my jazz listening had been mostly big bands and straight-ahead, swinging jazz groups. Continue reading →

Why One Saxophonist Covered His Idol

Posted by kjem

The late alto saxophone giant Jackie McLean died after a long illness in 2006, but continued performing and teaching until late in his life. One of the last songs he wrote and recorded was “Mr. E,” which leads off his 1998 septet album Fire and Love.

I’m thinking of it because I recently heard another version of the song by the much younger alto saxophonist Steve Lehman and his trio. Their take on “Mr. E” comes from a recording called Dialect Fluorescent, which came out just a few months ago.

“I really love the composition,” Lehman said. “I love the way the melody is structured; I love the way that the harmony is set up. And I think it’s really ingenious, actually, the way that every aspect of the composition … is really set up to create a kind of musical framework that at once is really grounded, and gives you a kind of sense of place and sound as a listener, but also has an incredible amount of flexibility and is kind of malleable as musical material.” Continue reading →