The Girl in Jazz: April 2010

Ulviyya to perform in Tbilisi

Ulviyya will be one of the opening vocalists for the Caucasus Jazz Festival this next week.

The premeire concert will be held at 1930 at the Tbilisi Conservatoire, located at Griboedov str. 8. (Tel: 997976).

Come see Ulviyya as she performs with her musicians including winner of the 2009 Montreux Jazz Festival, Isfar Sarabski, saxophonist Rain Sultanov, Ruslan Huseynov, Elchin Shirinov, and Elchin Huseynli and many others.

Ulviyya will be providing her impressions and updates of the festival every day via Twitter.

Come and see Ulviyya, show your support, and show what kind of fans you all are!!

Caucasus Jazz Festival

This month, the Kavkaz Jazz Festival will take place in Bazuleti, Georgia April 30-May 8. Musicians from Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia will participate. In addition to the regular jam sessions by the musicians, special concerts in Tbilisi will be held. The rehearsals and jam sessions will be mediated by Justin Dicioccio, from the well-known Manhattan School of Music. Ulviyya Rahimova is one of the main featured performers. Come see her live as she jams with the region's best!

What's the difference?

The varieties of jazz are endless. As each generation and culture of jazz take the music in new directions, the infinite possibilities continue to be explored.

The types of jazz, Avant-garde, Bebop, Fusion, Bossa Nova, Dixieland, Swing, free jezz, acid jazz, smooth jazz, are often used, but rarely defined. In the next few weeks we can explore what are these different styles and who were the famous pioneers.

But don’t hold on to these definitions too strongly. Jazz is still about freedom and defying definition and rules. As John Zorn has said,

"Musicians don’t think in terms of boxes. I know what jazz music is. I studied it. I love it. But when I sit down and make music, a lot of things come together. And sometimes it falls a little bit toward the classical side, sometimes it falls a little bit towards the jazz, sometimes it falls toward rock, sometimes it doesn’t fall anywhere, it's just floating in limbo. But no matter which way it falls, it's always a little bit of a freak. It doesn’t really belong anywhere. It's something unique, it's something different, it's something out of my heart. It's not connected with those traditions."

Jazz Album Reviews - Lightening Edition II

Masada Quintet – Stolas, The Book of Angels Vol. 12 (2009)

This is the only album of the Masada Quintet, another brainchild of avant garde composer John Zorn. The instrumental album features the quintet’s - Piano, drums, bass, tenor sax, trumpet – relaxed style with muted piano and generally comforting brass. An outstanding all-around album. Put it in the car stereo for your commute and lose the office stress .

Best Song: Serakel, but also listen to Haamiah

Sex Mob – Does Bond – (2001)
New York jazz band Sex Mob has an interesting shtick – a slide trumpet (a trumpet with a trombone slide).Their second shtick is taking popular pop songs, disassembling them and reassembling them anew, keeping the basic elements and making the rest their own. In this album, they take on the music of the James Bond franchise. Cool sixties sound seeps from every track making it a perfect album to play at the private bar of your bachelor pad.

Best Song: You Only Live Twice

Gretchen Parlato – In a Dream (2009)

Gretchen Parlato has the soul of jazz – musicianship, improvisation, soul, style and individualism (while paying homage to the past greats). With fans like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Parlato has the jazz foundation (she won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition ion 2004 judged by Quincey Jones, Al Jarreau and others) in case there would be any reason you would doubt her. But that won’t happen once you listen to the first track. Blending Brazilian influences with her understated soft voice and intricate rhythms, Parlato’s first album shows she can go further into pop, easy listening, lounge, or whichever direction she chooses. Is it obvious yet that we recommend this album? It provides high musicianship with a smooth ethereal feel. Put it on next time you invite friends over for after-party drinks.

Best Song: I Can’t Help It and Within Me

Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It (2008)

Formerly of the group Tony! Toni! Tone!, Saadiq went on as a producer of Joss Stone, Mary J. Blige, and others. His music goes back to the roots of old school R&B, and listening to this album brings back memories of Motown, Neville Brothers, Smokey Robinson, and other greats. Saadiq’s voice oozes retro seduction and nostalgic emotion. While there is great emphasis on style, nearly all of the tracks are outstanding, and the presence of a number of big hitters (Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, Jay-Z) the album isn’t nearly as individualistic as, say, one by Ayo. The album garnered three Grammy nominations and is a great choice for your next house party, retro or not.

Best Song: 100 Yard Dash and Just One Kiss

Paloma Faith – Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? (2009)

Definitely soul pop more than jazz, Faith credits Billie Holiday and Etta James as her influences. Faith pushes the brassy confident voice that has been brought back by Amy Winehouse and Duffy (though no one beats the original Shirley Bassey). The retro guitars, strong beats, and Faith’s angry lyrics create a funky and heated mix. If you like the new retro-soul comeback, you’ll need this album for your collection.

Best Song: Stone Cold Sober

Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK (2008)

Fans of Grey’s Anatomy will know Michaelson’s songs already. Like a lot of other artists we review, she isn’t jazz (though many of her songs are begging for jazz interpretation). ‘Open me up and you will see, I'm a gallery of broken hearts, I'm beyond repair, let me be, And give me back my broken parts’ is sung with such sweet sincerity, it doesn’t sound nearly as cynical as it reads. The simple indie arrangements and emotion-analyzing lyrics create a slightly melancholy album which provokes thought and brings back old feelings.

Best Song: Giving Up

Eva Cassidy – American Tune

Eva Cassidy wasn’t very well-known outside of Washington DC until after her death of cancer at 33. After her music was featured on a BBC program. After that her songs began topping charts. It can’t be said that the albums are stylistically unique or her voice is something unique. But it is very…attractive. The personal takes on popular covers, simple accompaniment, and warm American sound make you want to put your ipod on repeat.

Best Song: True Colors

Allen Toussaint – The Bright Mississippi (2009)

Allen Toussaint is a name you should know. If you don’t know the name, you definitely will recognize some of his funkier work from the 70’s. On this mostly instrumental album, he lets loose a lot of thoughtful New Orleans style. Warm, sensual sounds that make you want to close your eyes and drink it in.

Best Song: The Bright Mississippi

Ayo – Joyful (2006)

Born to a Nigerian father and Roma (gypsy) mother in Germany, Ayo brings a lot of her personal cultural background to her music. Ayo also has some slight reggae sounds, maybe influenced by her reggae singer partner. This album was released in 2006 and went gold and platinum in several European countries. It can be argued that it’s not jazz, but her swaying global rhythms, earnest, accented voice which is an amazing instrument in itself, and sincere,danceable and individualistic style would be welcome in jazz clubs anywhere. AyoJoy is a documentary about her life and music.

Best Song: There’s a lot but check out Watching You and Down on My Knees.

Alice Smith – For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me (2008)

The debut album of Smith, its songs span the breadth of Smith’s ability. The electic collection allows her to show off her wide array of influences (similar to how Alicia Keyes demonstrates her broad foundation). Because of that, it’s hard to pinpoint an “Alice Smith sound". It’s definitely more soul pop than jazz, though elements of jazz come out in almost every song.

Best Song: Love Endeavor, also check out Dream

Spencer Day – Vagabond (2009)

Spencer Day has passed over the classy and brassy style of Michael Buble for the sifter flirtatious sound of Harry Connick Jr. Certainly he has the smooth, charming voice, but the album goes in several directions. Till You Come Home is reminiscent of Connick Jr., he croons in I Got A Mind to Tell You, and in Maybe he could be a male counter to Doris Day. Overall, he tends more to slow emotional ballads with more focus on pathos than rhythm. His song Better Way is an idealistic look complaining that too many people think about money and power and we should find a better way. Strong but smooth vocals, wide variety of song styles, Day has a reputation as a hardworking musician, but all together this album doesn’t pull through well. Undoubtedly though, a talent we’ll be hearing from in the future.

What is Jazz?

We’ve never seen a strong need to define jazz. Part of the reason is that as soon as you mention a general rule, you can immediately find a dozen or more exceptions. The history of jazz spans Ragtime to fusion to acid jazz. Also, as result of jazz, soul, R&B, and Lounge developed. The fact that jazz is so individualistic means that the jazz greats each take the music in a new direction.

So, it’s easy to identify musicians who play jazz, but harder to exclude musicians who don’t play jazz. Is Norah Jones jazz? On the whole, yes. At least she started out that way. Alicia Keyes? Not really, but you can recognize a lot of jazz influence. Jamiroquai? Actually, yes, he comes from acid jazz. Duffy? Amy Winehouse? Actually they are soul, but soul music was a direct branch-out from jazz.

The best definition we can develop is that jazz music has the following points:

• Improvisation. Sometimes just a solo, sometimes the whole set

• Individualism. The musician deconstructs the music and then reconstructs it with the barest elements, the elements purposefully kept by the musician. A song isn’t just performed like karaoke, it’s stretched and molded to expose the emotion of the player.

• Musicianship. A lot of jazz pushes the limits of talent and ability.

• Freedom. Jazz is about self-expression and breaking borders