Kobie Watkins: A Drummer's Voyage

Chicago native Kobie Watkins is a leading voice in the new generation of jazz drummers. I saw Watkins several months ago at The Jazz Room in Charlotte and his performance was bananas—the crowd was in awe and after each solo there was thundering applause. An absolute wonder to watch, his polyrhythmic creativity and concepts create unique musical art that has put him in the category of a young jazz master. For this reason, he has been sought after by the best in the industry. Watkins has toured with a number of jazz greats such as Sonny Rollins, Curtis Fuller, Ken Chaney, Ron Perrillo, Bethany Pickens, Ryan Cohan, and you hear him all throughout Kurt Elling's 2011 Grammy nominated The Gate. Currently, he tours with jazz guitarist and composer Bobby Broom and plays weekly at the Kobie Watkins' Jazz Jam Playhouse at Beyu Café in Durham, N.C. You can find the charming and popular Café packed with Southern jazz enthusiasts as Watkins leads a number of musicians in creative and ad-hoc interpretations of popular jazz standards. In addition to being a drummer, Watkins is also a composer who penned all of his compositions on his 2006 debut CD entitled Involved. Involved consists of a sonically penetrating set of grooves with fusion, latin and gospel undertones. The ten track album is an absolute must have for the jazz connoisseur's collection. When asked about his sound, he quickly credits gospel music as a vital influence on his technique and sound development. Yet, he also gives honor to his father and a host of jazz greats who helped him become the outstanding drummer he is today. This knowledge has made him a top music educator, and he passes his jazz wisdom with other talented and upcoming drummers at jazz clinics and camps across the United States. Watkins is interested in one thing: doing his best for the music and serving the people. All About Jazz: So you've accomplished so much in your career. You've played with so many greats. Looking back, when was the moment you decided that you wanted to be a professional jazz drummer? Kobie Watkins: I became serious about the drums in between high school and college. Right after high school, there was a period where I worked regular jobs. I worked at Old Country Buffet, similar to Golden Corral, and I was still working at McDonald's a couple of days on the weekend. I was working three different jobs at 1 point. Working those jobs, I realized when washing dishes at Old Country Buffet that I didn't want to do exactly what I was watching these older men do. So at that point, I'd completed the audition for Vandercook College of Music and I told myself, once I get into school, I'm going to stay focused and I'm never going back to this. AAJ: And let's go back even before that—when did you come in contact with the drum set? KW: I started playing the drums while I was three or four years old in church. There, I listened to the drummers, in addition to hearing my dad playing drums in the church. I listened and observed those before me when I was three then went home and tried to replicate what I saw. My older brother remembered this moment! He explained to me how I would set the bowls, pots, and pans in order in tones. I was really big on tones and what things sounded like and so even today, I am really persnickety about how drums sound. Is it viable, can it reach the listener? And then how do they sound for me? Also, am I able to play them and make music for them? It gets interesting. Even today, when I'm touring my early decisions when learning the music revolve around how I want the drums to sound. And I learned the ABC's or rudiments of drumming with my dad and those concepts stuck with me forever. I had maybe five lessons with him, and after that I've never had a drum set lesson with any person in the world. Now, yes, I've gone to clinics, I've talked to my elders and talked with drummers older than I am. I'm also good friends with people I can actually call today and say, "Hey, what do you think about this, can you tell me about XYZ" in terms of technicalities such as Steve Smith. It's pretty cool. It's a give and take journey because I've never taken lessons, and there are times I feel like I probably should have taken lessons—but that's life. AAJ: When growing up were there particular jazz musicians or really popular jazz musicians that influenced you like Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, etc, or would you say it was those people you had access to? Sure. In genre order, people who influenced me would be gospel drummers first---people like Michael Williams from Commission, or Joel Smith with The Hawkins Family. In addition, I learned from Joe Maxwell who played with gospel great Andre Crouch, Kevin Brunson with Milton Brunson and The Thompson Community Singers, and Seeden with The Soul Children of Chicago. Also a guy named Kenny Coleman who showed my brother and I a lot of stuff by just watching him at church.

Thanks to http://www.allaboutjazz.com/kobie-watkins-a-drummers-voyage-kobie-watkins-by-k-shackelford.php

Buddy DeFranco

, who brought the clarinet into the bebop era and maintained a seven-decade career, died Dec. 24 in Panama City, Fla., according to a notice on his website. The cause was not reported. DeFranco was 91. In the years following the dominance of swing clarinetists such as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, DeFranco adapted the instrument to the new type of jazz being introduced by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, both of whom were collaborators of his. In an interview posted on the website for the National Endowment for the Arts, DeFranco, who was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2006, said, “When I heard Charlie Parker, I knew that was gonna be the new way to play jazz. And it was right. … It was much more difficult to play as far as fingering and articulation. In fact, even to this day, I can’t explain the articulation of bebop, even though I do it. You know, because it’s a question of the melding between your brain, your tonguing, your phrasing, your breathing and your fingering. It has to work all together. And there's no way to describe it.” Born Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo DeFranco in Camden, N.J., on Feb. 17, 1923, and raised in Philadelphia, he took on the nickname Buddy in his childhood and, following a failed attempt to learn mandolin, began playing the clarinet at age 9, the instrument a gift from his father. DeFranco was trained in classical music but took to jazz and won a Tommy Dorsey talent contest while in his teens. By 16 he was touring with the Johnny “Scat” Davis big band, and in 1941 he joined with drummer/bandleader Gene Krupa, followed by stints with Ted FioRito, Charlie Barnet and, in 1944, Dorsey himself, with whom DeFranco stayed until 1948. By the end of that decade, however, DeFranco was feeling constrained by the rigidity of the big bands and, as a member of Count Basie’s septet, in 1950, and in various recording situations, he began exploring the freedoms offered by the newly emerging, more adventurous bebop. DeFranco formed his own group in the early 1950s, whose members at one point included Kenny Drew, Milt Hinton and Art Blakey. DeFranco also toured with Billie Holiday and was featured in the Jazz at the Philharmonic recordings produced by Norman Granz, for whom DeFranco made some of his first recordings as a leader. His earliest recordings, as Buddy DeFranco and his Orchestra, were cut for Capitol in 1949 and included Lee Konitz, Oscar Pettiford, Al Cohn and others. He also recorded quartet, quintet and sextet sessions in the early ’50s. DeFranco recorded during this era for MGM, Clef, Norgran, GNP and Verve, the latter releasing a 1954 session with Oscar Peterson (piano), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass) and Louis Bellson (drums). In 1955, DeFranco recorded with his quintet, including Sonny Clark (piano, organ), Tal Farlow (guitar), Gene Wright (bass) and Bobby White (drums). The following year, DeFranco also cut a session for Verve with pianist Art Tatum, Red Callender on bass and Bill Douglass on drums. In the late ’50s DeFranco recorded in septet and octet configurations, and in 1959 he cut a session for Dot with Nelson Riddle’s Orchestra. By the early ’60s, DeFranco was working primarily with accordionist Tommy Gumina, although a 1964 session featured Lee Morgan (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Victor Feldman (piano, vibraphone), Victor Sproles (bass) and Blakey (drums). In 1966, DeFranco was named the director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra “ghost band,” a gig he maintained until 1974. He continued to record sporadically from the ’70s onward, working again with Farlow, Peterson and others. DeFranco’s main collaborator through the ’80s and ’90s was vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. In his later tears, DeFranco released albums on Concord Jazz, Storyville, Arbors and other labels. According to DeFranco’s website, he recorded more than 150 albums in all. His last public performance was two years ago, at age 89. The University of Montana has held a Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival annually since 1980. The next one is scheduled for March 26.

Tony Miceli: Vibes Matter

Tony Miceli is a long-time master vibraphonist who, until a few short years ago, was relatively unknown outside of the Philadelphia area, when he started getting requests to perform and teach all over the world. Now, he is in demand in Ireland, South Korea, Argentina, and Australia, not to mention New York and the West Coast, and the list of places is growing every day. Miceli deserves the newfound renown. He is widely regarded by the cognoscenti, including vibraphonists Gary Burton and David Friedman, as one of the ascending masters of the instrument. His work with groups like Monkadelphia (Monkadelphia; Dreambox Media, 2000) and The Jost Project (Can't Find My Way Home; Dot Time, 2013) are gaining increasing attention from jazz fans, and his new CD with violinist Diane Monroe (Alone Together; Dreambox Media, 2014) is raising eyebrows. Miceli is interested in social networking and is bringing players of the vibraphone together in a worldwide exchange of ideas and approaches. He has established vibesworkshop.com for vibes players to interact, teach, learn, and develop musically with one another. This year, he established the first Vibraphone Congress with Leigh Stevens and Tom Meyers, bringing players together in person to establish a yearly meeting and a community to support their work. We can find inspiration in his philosophy that "Doing good for others is the basis of a successful career. The good comes right back to you." All About Jazz, impressed by Miceli's dedication and incredible ability to transform any sheet of music into beautiful swinging jazz, wanted to find out how he has evolved as a musician since we last interviewed him in 2006. So we hooked up with him at his home studio, which is something like a "situation room" with its vibraphone in the center and an array of computers, amplifiers, recording equipment, and TV cameras, all connected to the internet, allowing him to instantly connect with co-musicians around the world. All About Jazz: What were some of your earliest musical influences? Tony Miceli: I was listening to a lot of rock music when I was growing up. And I was gravitating toward what I considered to be the more sophisticated players. I was thinking about which bands were best. I liked Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I liked Yes. I was always seeking a higher level musically in all that. Meanwhile, my Italian-American parents were listening to Frank Sinatra, and every weekend we had Sinatra on. So indirectly, I was learning about "standards" which I also liked a lot. I found myself thinking about form and timing and other technical stuff as well. AAJ: Did you have a music teacher? TM: I started off playing guitar, in particular classical guitar. Then in my teens, I had a piano teacher Gene Davise and I had a drum teacher Joe Sher as well. I started playing guitar when I was six. By nine, I had two teachers—drums and guitar—and by fourteen, I had three teachers. Importantly, they were all very passionate about the music. They were actively playing gigs, so they could pass the fire along to you. My teachers would talk about their gigs, which probably helped me later. I think it's important to have teachers who are actively working. Mine were. I remember going to a garage sale and buying the Miles Davis recording, Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). At first, I was very confused by it. I thought, "This is weird," and I set it aside. Then, a few months later, I tried listening to it again, and that time I got it! It hit me! So then I started getting excited about jazz. The rock music was familiar to me and my friends, but not jazz. But then I started paying attention to jazz and asked my piano teacher for some names and started to listen to it a lot. So I started out with rock, as well as my father's influence with the standards, and then accidentally got turned on to jazz. Sometimes I wonder if there would be more interest in jazz if we exposed kids to it more often. Is musical taste more a matter of nature, nurture, or peer influence? Anyhow, when I went to college at the University of the Arts, jazz became a major influence on me. I grew up in a mostly-white neighborhood, and going to college made me realize that all the stereotypes I had in my head were wrong. In college, I was exposed to European, Asian, African American, and Latino musicians and was impressed by how amazing they all were. AAJ: Were you also exposed to classical music at UArts? TM: I was studying all percussion, and had a classical percussion teacher for that. I played in the orchestra. But getting back to jazz, one of my biggest influences in college in the late 1970s in Philadelphia was saxophonist Larry McKenna. Of course, he's still very active. To me, he's an icon. I would put him up against anybody. Interestingly, I'm traveling a lot now, and every town I visit has an alleged saxophone icon like Larry! But they can't come up to his level of playing. Many of the classical musicians I met were very analytical but not really musical. By contrast, Larry simplified everything for me and emphasized how things sounded. thanks to http://www.allaboutjazz.com/tony-miceli-vibes-matter-tony-miceli-by-victor-l-schermer.php

A two-CD/three-LP of a previously unreleased live recording from 1977

A two-CD/three-LP of a previously unreleased live recording from 1977, featuring pianist Red Garland, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Philly Joe Jones, is being released Jan. 20 by Elemental Music. Titled Swingin’ on the Korner, the show was taped at San Francisco’s now-defunct Keystone Korner. Philly_joe_jones__red_garland_and_leroy_vinnegar_span3 Tom Copi Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland and Leroy Vinnegar The package includes a 44-page booklet with essays by Nat Hentoff, Ira Gitler, Don Schlitten, Doug Ramsey, Benny Green and Kenny Washington, with an introduction by producers Zev Feldman and former Keystone Korner proprietor Todd Barkan, as well as photographs taken during the actual concerts by Keystone staff photographer Tom Copi. Garland and Jones were members of Miles Davis’ quintet in 1955. Garland died in 1984. thank to http://jazztimes.com/articles/145141-two-disc-unreleased-live-red-garland-set-due

Steve Coleman, Saxophonist And Innovative Composer, Named MacArthur Fellow

Composer and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, 57, has been named one of 21 new recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, commonly referred to as the "genius grant." The award is worth a unrestricted stipend of $625,000 over five years, as dispensed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Though often classified as a jazz artist, Coleman takes a broader search to improvised music. Since the 1980s, he has approached music through the original concept M-Base, which promotes the creation of structures or languages to better express personal experience (the M-Base acronym stands for Macro-Basic Array of Structured Extemporizations). In practice, Coleman has applied the idea to uncommon formal innovation, inspired often by metaphysics, mythology, natural science and travel throughout the African diaspora and Asia. U.S. cartoonist Alison Bechdel works Sept. 2 in her studio at the castle of Civitella Ranieri, central Italy. U.S. Meet The 2014 Winners Of The MacArthur 'Genius Grants' "If anything, that's what this music is," he told NPR Music in 2012. "It's a lot of different influences, coming from different places — plus, whatever's coming from inside you, which is the main thing." In the process of developing the M-Base conception, Coleman has become an important teacher and community leader. Through frequent residencies and regular workshops, he has mentored many students well beyond the saxophone. His bandmates and collaborators include many major names in modern jazz and improvised music, including several recent MacArthur Fellows: pianist Vijay Iyer, drummer Dafnis Prieto, pianist Jason Moran and fellow alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón. He also runs the non-profit organization M-Base Ways, which provides resources for sharing musical ideas on and offline, and hearkens back to the musicians' collective which pioneered M-Base 30 years ago. "Because Steve Coleman generates his own musical rules, he's had to school musicians in his organizing principles, and his band includes younger players open and smart enough to keep up with the concepts," Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead said in a review of Coleman's 2010 album Harvesting Semblances And Affinities. "He doesn't just make music that's brainy and funky. He also helps shape players who develop things still further on their own. That's really giving something back to the music." Hear Steve Coleman and Five Elements live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2011, and in this short documentary Field Recording.

Remembering Jazz Violinist John Blake Jr.

For decades, John Blake Jr. created a rare role for the violin within the jazz of his eras. A versatile player, he worked memorably with Archie Shepp, Grover Washington Jr., and McCoy Tyner. He released several solo recordings. He taught in conservatories and mentored many outside the classroom. Blake died Friday, Aug. 15 from complications due to multiple myeloma, according to his family. He was 67. In 2001, Blake appeared on NPR's Billy Taylor's Jazz At The Kennedy Center, a program which brought in guest artists for an interview and performance with Taylor's trio. The episode can be heard at the audio link above. Here's the description of the show as it originally appeared on NPR.org: This edition of Billy Taylor's Jazz At The Kennedy Center spotlights violinist John Blake. Blake has worked with saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. and pianist McCoy Tyner, among other jazz greats, led groups under his own name and distinguished himself as a music educator. After opening with an unabashedly swinging reading of Nat Adderley's "Work Song" — which also features Dr. Taylor on piano, bassist Chip Jackson and drummer Winard Harper — Blake, a native Philadelphian, begins discussing the origins of his musical development. He informs Dr. Taylor and the Kennedy Center audience that his first instrument was not the violin but the piano. As with many jazz musicians, his musical foundation came from the European classical tradition. By the time Blake reached third grade, however, he'd discovered the instrument for which he is best known and became acquainted with the work of renowned violinists such as Isaac Stern. Later in his musical studies, Blake discovered Indian music — an influence which continues to inform his approach to the instrument and which finds its way into a uniquely lyrical reading of "All The Things You Are" with Dr. Taylor and his trio. Following this well-received performance, Blake and Dr. Taylor discuss the influence of the late saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. and Blake's five-year tenure with pianist McCoy Tyner. The violinist then delights the Kennedy Center audience with a rhythmically fecund solo reading of Tyner's "Passion Dance." In the course of answering audience questions with Dr. Taylor, Blake is asked the source of his greatest musical inspiration. His mother "playing behind church choirs," he responds, noting that he tries to infuse his playing with the same degree of passion and inspiration. After an appropriately passionate, Latin-tinged interpretation of "Here's That Rainy Day" performed with the trio, Dr. Taylor asks Blake if there is a different technique for teaching jazz rather than classical music. Blake tells Dr. Taylor that a key to introducing students to jazz is getting them to embrace the concepts of improvisation and imagination. Those concepts and more are magnificently displayed in the evening's concluding performance, a robustly swinging rendition of the Dizzy Gillespie classic "A Night In Tunisia." thanks for http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2014/08/21/330762396/remembering-jazz-violinist-john-blake-jr