Holiday Jazz 2020: A world affair!

[Web master’s note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — the eldest, youngest and only son of this site’s primary jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene for 24 years, with lengthy columns that just keep growing. Check out previous columns by clicking on the CHRISTMAS label below.]

As a greater number of releases have become solely digital, it has gotten harder to separate the (rare) wheat from the (all too common) chaff. The primary reason is an absence of data. Most digital releases offer only a cover image, and nothing else, in the way of information. No little essay about or by the primary artist(s), no recording or mastering engineers, and — quite often — no instrument personnel. 

 

This is a frustrating a throwback to the early days of LPs, when (as but one example) several of Vince Guaraldi’s Fantasy albums failed to credit his sidemen. It was rude and unacceptable then, and it’s just as intolerable now.

 

I also mourn the loss of cdbaby’s online store, which ceased operation in March, in order to focus exclusively on helping artists to monetize and promote their music. Every album listed in the former store — whether digital or hard media — had its own page, with all the essential information one would expect from a detailed CD booklet. Visitors also could sample tracks from every entry.

 

Fortunately, iTunes, Spotify and Amazon still allow sampling.

 

Even so…

 

Little by little, it’s getting harder to “browse” music — as in the good ol’ days of record bins — looking for wonderful stuff that you won’t know you want, until you stumble across it.

 

This is progress?

 

I think not.

 

********

 

New York-based pianist Ben Paterson is both a Steinway artist and winner of 2018’s inaugural Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition. No surprise, then: He has serious keyboard chops. He also performs smoothly alongside bassist Luke Sellick and drummer Charles Goold, with whom he shares one of those symbiotic relationships that suggests mutual mind-reading. They’re a tight unit, and I’ll Be Thanking Santa is a terrific album.

 

Paterson is a generous leader, granting Sellick almost as much solo time as he takes himself. Sellick favors walking bass, and his licks are quite engaging on “O Tannenbaum” and “Winter Wonderland.” He also introduces the melody on “The Christmas Waltz” and subsequently dominates that tune.

 

Goold tends to be less visible, establishing solid rhythmic backing without calling attention to himself; it’s almost startling when he takes occasional drum solos, on “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Winter Wonderland.”

 

I love Paterson’s solo introduction on a thoughtful reading of “The Christmas Song”; his keyboard work sounds like a series of melodic questions and answers. His contemplative solo handling of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” precisely captures the wistful tone Judy Garland gave that song, when she introduced it in 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis.

 

“O Tannenbaum” is a groovy, mid-tempo toe-tapper that challenges listeners not to get up and boogie; the arrangement of “Christmas Time Is Here” is much peppier than usual, backed by driving rhythm that feels like a moving train. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” emerges as a bossa nova sparkler, while the Tagalog carol “Pasko Na Naman” is transformed into a tango-esque swinger that builds to an aggressive climax by all three musicians. Paterson also is all over the keyboard during most of “Winter Wonderland”; it’s easy to see how he won that Marsalis competition.

 

Paterson includes two vocal originals. “Christmas, Won’t You  Stick Around for Awhile” is a wistful ode to those who can’t bear to see the holiday season conclude; “I’ll Be Thanking Santa” is a cheerier love song that acknowledges life’s truly most important gifts. Both tunes boast clever lyrics and rhymes; Paterson definitely could moonlight as a songwriter.

 

This album demands heavy rotation on your playlist.

 

Aaron Diehl: The Bespoke Man's Narrative

Mack Avenue Records
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: The Bespoke Man's Narrative

During the period from the early 1950s to the early ‘90s, the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was one of the most famous and influential jazz groups. Their elegant musical style — which combined blues, bop, cool and third-stream genres with the classics — was unlike any other unit in the music world. The MJQ’s discography was huge — almost four dozen albums during this period — and that long career was an indication of excellence. Fans wept when they left the scene.

Well, cheer up! The quartet featured on this album won’t merely take you back to the joys of the MJQ; this new group goes beyond them. This band’s instrumentation is identical: piano (Aaron Diehl), vibes (Warren Wolf), bass (David Wong) and drums (Rodney Green).   

Their styles aren’t identical, but the results are marvelous. Diehl plays piano more softly and eloquently than John Lewis’ funky melodic line; Wolf’s vibes are right on the beat, where Milt Jackson was looser and a little “behind” the beat. Wong and Percy Heath are two of a kind, stylistically, as are Green and Connie Kay. 

Most important: Both groups create beautiful music. 

Back in the days of the big bands, many groups would open their shows with a theme: Then the curtain would roll open, and they’d swing into an up-tempo tune. The show would conclude with a repeat of the theme, or the band might go out with one of its famous hits. Diehl uses that technique here; he opens with a short “Prologue,” grooves into a program of eight featured tunes, then closes with a short “Epilogue.” The technique remains just as effective today.

I thoroughly enjoyed the inclusion of several jazz standards that are seldom recorded by other artists: Ellington’s “Single Petal of a Rose,” Gershwin’s “Bess, You Is My Woman” and Blackburn & Suessdorf’s “Moonlight in Vermont.” They’re all done beautifully. The rest of the menu features originals from the group, along with Milt Jackson’s “The Cylinder.” The latter chart and “Generation X” produce a sound that perfectly clones the MJQ.

One disappointment: Wolf isn’t utilized on about half of these tunes, which turns the group into a trio. That’s a shame, because he’s a key figure in the group’s sound.

That said, these guys are a splendid addition to the jazz world. I hope we hear a lot more from them.

Warren Wolf: Warren Wolf

Mack Avenue Records
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Warren Wolf

Warren Wolf is a young artist who plays vibraphone, marimba, piano and drums; he was born and raised in Baltimore, and graduated from the Berklee College of Music. Thanks to a musical father, he began at an early age: drums at age 3, piano and vibes just a few years later. Wolf toured with the Baltimore Symphony when he was 9, composed his first tune at 10, started playing professional jazz gigs at 12, and entered Berklee at 17.

Wolf’s early entry into the jazz scene, his association with the myriad Berklee attendees — and his recognition as a prodigy — assured that he’d work with many name artists. Bassist Christian McBride, who was Jazz Aspen’s artistic director at the time, was one of the first to recognize Wolf’s talent. McBride — along with Gregory Hutchinson (drums), Peter Martin (piano), Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) and Tim Green (alto and soprano sax) — join Wolf on this, his debut album for Mack Avenue.

Most of the tunes were composed by members of the sextet; the exception is Chick Corea’s “Senor Mouse,” originally recorded as a duet with vibes icon Gary Burton, who was a member of Corea’s group for awhile. Wolf’s cover demonstrates his prowess on both vibraphone and marimba (the latter is overdubbed). Wolf also uses the marimba on the ballad “How I Feel at This Given Moment”; as he explains, “I wanted to add the marimba’s sweet wooden sound.”

The album menu includes a nice mix of ballads, blues, mid-tempo swingers and one supersonic flag-waver (“One For Lenny”). The sextet grooves nicely, and Wolf clearly demonstrates that he’s a musical force to be reckoned with. His multi-instrument abilities evoke Lionel Hampton, who also was on speaking terms with the drums and piano, as well as vibes. Hamp was a great traditional jazz artist, and Wolf demonstrates that this sort of talent remains relevant in the modern jazz world.