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6/21 - Charlie Kohlhase's Explorers Club at 8 p.m. (PA) – The Explorers--Charlie, Seth Meicht, Daniel Rosenthal, Jeb Bishop, Eric Hofbauer, Aaron Darrell, and Curt Newton--take on their own works plus those of a variety of past masters (and they know how to improvise, too ). It happens at the Outpost…
6/22 – The Bob Gullotti Trio at 8 p.m. (MP) – Some people know him as one of the founding members of The Fringe, others know him as a well-respected teacher, and a bunch of people hire him for gigs. Here he is leading his own group with longtime co-conspirators John Lockwood and Tim Ray at Third Life Studio ($18)…
6/23 – The Makanda Project at 2 p.m. (MP/PA) – It’s another fine, free concert by the Makanda Project. Some musicians you are likely to catch at the gig include Kurtis Rivers, Amir Lee, Arni Cheatham, Sean Berry, Charlie Kohlhase, Jerry Sabatini, Phil Grenadier, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Tyler Bonilla, Bill Lowe, leader John Kordalewski, John Lockwood, and Yoron Israel. It happens at the Bromley Heath Community Center, 10 Lamartine Street (at Columbus Ave. & Heath St.), Jamaica Plain…
6/23 – Natraj plus Indian classical dancer at 8 p.m. (multicultural) – Phil Scarff, Carl Clements, Mike Rivard, Jerry Leake, and Bertram Lehmann perform with renowned Indian classical dancer Jayshree Bala Rajamani. It happens at Amazing Things, Framingham ($20)…
Key codes: The abbreviation in parentheses following the name of the event or
band/musician performing indicates roughly the type of music that you can
expect if you go to the gig.
MC=
Magazine Covers. These musicians/bands
are popular with jazz fans and therefore often find their photos on the covers
of jazz magazines. This type of band may
or may not be any good qualitatively.
However, many fans like to know “what’s hot.”
MP=Mainstream/Post-Bop. This is the music that most people think of
today when they think of jazz. It runs
the gamut from Parkeresque bebop and Websterish ballads to the post-bop work of
people such as Bergonzi and Lovano.
PA=Post-Ayler. This is Anthony Braxton’s term for all the
adventure that came out of Ayler, Ornette, Cecil and others (including Mr. Braxton,
of course). In some ways it is the most
diverse jazz and jazz-rooted music being performed today, including everything
from near zero dB whispers (e.g., undr, John Tilbury) to eardrum demolishing
walls of sound (Keith Rowe, a ton of stuff from Japan) to performances built on
combinations of composed and improvised material (Liberation Orchestra, Charlie
Kohlhase’s ensembles) to completely improvised offerings
(Evan Parker, Laurence Cook).
S=Swing. It don’t mean a thing… Maybe “nothing” means “anything” if you are a
fan of swing. Sadly, fine swing music
seems to be approaching extinction, at least in the Boston area clubs. The reasons are obvious and elusive. The great names of Swing (such as Lunceford
and Barnet) have passed on and taken almost all of their band mates with
them. In addition, in spite of the fact
that some of the finest music of the swing era was produced by the combos
of Goodman and Basie (among others), people continue to think of swing in terms
of large (and therefore economically untenable) ensembles. You can find it happening in some dance
halls, but mostly at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
For years such names as Whitney, Winniker, and Hershman have held the
fort in the Boston
area. But you’ve got to keep your eyes
peeled.
T=Two-beat/Trad. Some of the finest contemporary two-beat jazz
anywhere has been nurtured and grown in Eastern
Massachusetts since the 1970s.
Everyone knows about the New Black Eagles, and a host of other musicians
are held in equally high esteem around here.
Some of the better-known are Jimmy Mazzy, Stan McDonald, Jeff Hughes,
and Guy Van Duser. Unfortunately for
city dwellers, two-beat jazz (and, to a lesser extent, the blues) has moved to
the suburbs. But the best of it is worth
the drive.