Toronto – My fellow Panic Manualers are doing a great job covering the latest and greatest music of the day.  So I’ve decided to explore some uncharted territories for the Panic Manual. Time will tell whether this thought experiment pans out. But it’s high time I start writing about some music that I’m passionate about: jazz.

Jazz first came into use as a term in the early 20^th century from within its motherland, New Orleans. Some early newspapers from the era referred to this new music as “Jass”, before spelling consensus was reached. It was a simple idea really, and it comes down to one thing: collective improvisation. The concept is simple: get a bunch of musicians to improvise together, but also in concert. But there must be method in the madness.  And when done right, the results can be positively spine-tingley.

Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale.

But how is jazz different from blues? They do share a common thread. In blues you have a 12-measure progression that moves from the 1^st, 4^th, and 5^th notes on your major scale (think, Do, Fa and So, a needle pulling thread). On top of this progression, musicians improvise in what we call “The Blues Scale”. This is basically a slightly modified minor scale. Minor scales sound sad. And that gives us the sad, brooding sound of the blues. Indie rock as we know it today would be completely lost without the minor scale.

So if blues is improvisation over a basic chord-progression, what then is jazz? That’s a good question, and tough to answer. Not everyone agrees, but much of blues is a subset of jazz, and the main difference would be the lexicon, or vocabulary. While jazz can make heavy use of the language of the blues, it also adds a whole bunch of flair. There are more scales to use, with different and more complex chord progressions.  More scales and complexity can lead to more expressiveness, but it can also lead to more chaos. Give someone enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.  The best jazz musicians can dance all over this tightrope and still make it look easy for us mortals.

The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them.

So is jazz dead? That’s a fair question. To a jazz lover like me, it concerns me that there seems to be less interest in this music that is both powerful and timeless. Jazz hasn’t been mainstream since the Swinger Era of the 40’s and 50’s, when people would go out and dance to the big bands of yore. But music evolves and marches on.  You have only look to your own music to see the traces of the past.

Rock wouldn’t be what it is today without the blues. You can chart a path from early blues guitarists in the 50’s like Buddy Guy, through Eric Clapton, to Jimi Hendrix and beyond. Sam Cooke passed the soul singer torch to Otis Redding, who passed it to Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. Afrobeat? Ska? Reggae? Hip-Hop? All of these genres have the fingerprints of jazz & blues all over them. But you can’t understand why Feist, Cat Powers, and Jack Whyte are so blues-influenced without first spending some time with Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. The dots are everywhere, and its our distinct priviledge to connect them.

So where will I start with this first edition of Jazz in Review? I’m going to start in the 50’s and 60’s, the beginnings of the “cool jazz” scene led by Miles Davis. I’ll occasionally hop to modern times to review some contemporary jazz. But first up is The Sermon, by Jimmy Smith. This is one of my favourite all-time jazz records. Jimmy Smith is an organist extra-ordinaire who pioneered the sound of the Hammond organ in jazz and funk.

So why does The Sermon make my all-time list of jazz albums? In addition to being an influential album for later musicians of the funk variety, it is a delicate fusion of gospel, blues, and bebop. This album can command your attention if you let it, but it also has an amazing ability to gracefully step into the background. Highlights for me include the the title track, as well as the beautifully well-rounded work of trombonist Curtis Fuller on the track Blue Room.

To get an understanding of the mastery of these incredible musicians, it’s interesting to note that this album was recorded during two live dates in 1957 and 1958. After giving this album a spin, I hope you’ll agree that you just can’t fake this blend of skill and artistry.

 

 Jimmy Smith - Blue Room: Play Now

Toronto – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was formed in 1989 by singer/guitarist Scotty Morris. It started as a three-piece, but quickly grew into its current big band lineup. They were at the forefront of the swing-craze of the mid-90’s, and were popularized by their appearance in the movie Swingers with songs like “You and me and the bottle makes 3 tonight (baby)” and “Go daddy-o”. You’d recognized them if you heard ‘em.

They appeared at the Nathan Phillips Square main stage, and the result was a high-energy show. People who were in their late-teens and early twenties during the 90’s swing-craze were dusting off those swing dance-moves that they paid good money for and thought they’d never get to use. The band was tight, and provided all the ingredients for a good time. They all wore cool cat jazz suits, and the brass played in front of 30’s style jazz stands. Classy.

The music was good. It wasn’t inspiring, but it was solid, tight, and full of energy. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is still at it, cranking out the big band and doing what they do best: saluting and re-creating the old-school dance jazz that was so popular in the 30’s and 40’s. There were two highlights for me. The first was Scotty giving the crowd a history lesson about the Cotton Club, a famous prohibition-era NYC jazz club, with a salute to the late great Cab Calloway. The second was the bassist Dirk Schumaker. He looked like he was having so much fun spinning that stand-up bass of his and playing music that he loves. I was thoroughly envious of the man’s joie de vivre.

If I could have bottled some of it, I’d be set for life. 4/5.

[Note: this review was written by Brian, an avid Ahmad Jamal enthusiast well acquainted with Ahmad's discography.]

Toronto - Even if you haven’t heard of legendary pianist Ahmad Jamal, you’ve definitely heard the unmistakable sound he popularized.

In late fifties, Jamal’s understated, eloquent style influenced scores of other artists, famously inspiring Miles Davis’ during his First Great Quintet period. In more recent years, Jamal has been rediscovered by a new generation of artists: he’s been sampled on countless hip-hop records (Nas’ “The World is Yours”, Common’s “Resurrection”).

At his packed Festival Mainstage show earlier this week, the legendary Jamal put on a mesmerizing performance that found the 78-year old pianist still pushing his delicate, thoughtful sound into new directions.

He was accompanied by a stellar rhythm section consisting of his longtime bassist James Cammack, drummer James Johnson, and the odd-haired percussionist Manolo Badrena. The interplay between the latter two stole the show for me; it was exhilarating to watch them gradually evolve their patterns together into complex, crowd-rocking grooves.

I’ve been waiting for years to see Jamal perform, and his sparse, dynamic piano play was captivating to hear in person. The audience agreed with me, bringing the band back out for three standing-ovation encores. It was a treat to see Jamal continue to push his artistic boundaries well after his status as a jazz legend has been cemented.

4.5/5

Toronto – Renaud Garcia-Fons hails from a small Parisian suburb and is a double-bassist par excellence who fuses the very best elements of jazz, flamenco, and classical music. He played last Sunday at the Enwave Theatre (Harbourfront). It was a perfect combination of venue and performer; the end-result was nothing short of enchanting.

The Enwave Theatre has a maximum capacity of 420 people and has now become one of my favourite concert halls for live music. The acoustics are absolutely fantastic. In short, a great place for a vivid music listening experience. I’ve heard good things about this hall before, but after hearing some top brass musicians stretch their legs there, I now understand what the buzz is about. I can only struggle to describe how good they sounded in this hall.

Renaud Garcia-Fons was accompanied by flamenco guitarist Antonio Ruiz and percussionist Pascal Rollando. Together, they produced a well-rounded sound that was meticulously assembled. Renaud is a virtuoso and I mean this in the best meaning of the term. Sometimes “virtuoso” is synonym for “technical mastery”. That is to say the ability to play really technically challenging things effortlessly, but robotically. Renaud has the chops, but he’s a consummate musician capable of playing with feeling. He’s got full command of his instrument, and uses it to effortlessly fuse musical styles.

This was a perfect combination of beautiful music in a venue where listeners could really appreciate how damn good this trio sounds. A highlight of the jazz festival for me this year.

Renaud Garcia-Fons: 4.8/5.0

Note: The attached song (from his latest CD Arcoluz) is an instrumental that fuses jazz and flamenco.

 

 Renaud Garcia-Fons - Berimbass: Play Now

Mark’s Review

Toronto – What more can be said of Mr. Maceo Parker, the funktastic sax who played with James Brown for so many years? To say that this show was dripping with sweet funk would be an understatement. This show was pure dance party funk from start to finish, and the crowd couldn’t get enough of it.

As one friend stated, “there was a lot of confidence on that stage”. This was certainly the case. Maceo has assembled himself a super tight funk orchestra that knows how to rock like nobody’s business. It’s a very well put together sound, and you know that they know that they know it. They wore suits, and they came, and they threw down, and there was merriment.

It’s too bad that such a great show had to happen at the Docks (sorry, the Sound Academy). The sound was a little muddy at the beginning. Fortunately adjustments were made and the band came into balance after a few songs. Then it was just pure funk energy for two solid hours. I was hoping for a couple more Ray Charles tunes, but I was really glad to hear a bit of “Georgia on My Mind” on flute, and “You Don’t Know Me” during the encore.

The Sound Academy still sucks though. The acoustics are still bad. There are TV’s showing live feeds of the show all around the room. I suppose you can make an argument that then people who are farther from the stage can see what’s going on, but in my opinion it takes away from the actual musicians on stage. Who is going to face away from the band and watch the TV’s at the back of the room?

Sound issues aside, I don’t think the Docks/Sound Academy can ever really truly succeed as a great venue because of its location. It’s just too much of a hassle to get way out there, and then getting back is always difficult as cab’s take advantage of the location to extort the concert goers.

So all in all, this show unfolded as I expected. A fantastic band, and a fantastic show, just too bad it had to be at the Docks.

Maceo Parker: 4.8/5 Sound Academy: 3/5

Ricky’s Review
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Toronto – The Bad Plus is a contemporary jazz trio comprised of classically trained pianist Ethan Iverson, straight-up jazz bassist Reid Anderson, and rock drummer David King. They hail from the Midwest of America and formed in late 2000.

Although The Bad Plus plays a lot of great fresh, material, what have really put them on the jazz-map have been their covers. Taking popular music of the time and re-interpreting them as jazz songs has been standard technique in the jazz lexicon. But what makes The Bad Plus stand out is their ability to re-interpret a song, as opposed to just shoehorning it into a jazz vocabulary.

For their part, The Bad Plus certainly met my expectations of seeing a jazz band of the highest caliber playing together and having fun. This was my first time at the Glenn Gould studio, and I was very impressed with the acoustics. One of my favourite moments was when they played a rendition of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold and all stopped playing their instruments and sang in unison using very quiet indoor voices. The best part was that even at the back of the room, I could hear it perfectly.

4/5

 

 Everybody Wants To Rule The World: Play Now