Belltown Bent

All over the map

From Great Bend to NYC, by way of Omaha, SF Bay and Kansas City, Grammy nominated Karrin Allyson has arrived in Seattle, where she's halfway into her week-long stand at Demitriou's Jazz Alley.

When the Bent took in her June 2004 show at the same club, Karrin covered a lot of interpretive territory, applying her faultless phrasing and tough but tender touch to pop songs by artists as diverse as Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor side by side with the blues, ballads, and standards of Mose Allison, John Coltrane, and the brothers Gershwin.

This time around, according to Paul de Barros,  she is covering even more territory, with that "bouyant but lived-in voice of hers, especially with such an effortlessly swinging band," and is taking the audience along for the ride as she introduces new lyrics, by collaborator Chris Caswell, to instrumental works by jazz artists including Cannonball Adderley, Hank Mobley, and Wayne shorter.

It's not too late to head to Jazz Alley, and go wherever Karrin Allyson takes you.

Read Paul de Barros' review | Visit Karrin's website | Discover her music

300 year old wood

This is Brian Bromberg, a remarkable bass player better known for playing basses which plug in. Solid body, electric instruments with sound profiles more determined by electronics than age, air, and arching scrolls. In this moment, this lightening strike of unselfconscious creative absorption, he is bonded to a 300 year-old contra-bass made by 18th century Italian luthier Matteo Guersam.

But this entry is really about my friend, Hank. He is a relatively new friend. But not the kind you plug in. He's an old soul, a wood soul, full of air and warmth, and arching, aching sensibilities. The kind of friend you could talk with for hours, or not talk to for the longest time. Though I hope that time never comes.

Today he wondered on-line if I had abandoned the Bent (and some how wove his wondering into the much richer concept of the fabric of history) for some unknown reason, or yet-to-be revealed pursuit. The truth is neither, but his wondering is the reason for this reprise.

Perhaps it was Brian Bromberg who put me on pause. He moved me on this evening at Jazz Alley. He was lost in time, caressing a centuries-old instrument, in a way Guersam and his contemporaries could not have imagined. Somehow, in a flash of brilliance, Bromberg closed the gap, illuminating the infinitesimal moment separating a distant then from the ephemeral now. I have been basking in the glow. Thank you, Hank, for wanting to know.

"It's part genes and part means."

"Are you hip to the means?" Blue Note recording artist Mose Allison has been for more than 50 years.

Piano man, jazz man, blues man, soul man. Great American songwriter, and masterful interpreter of the Great American songbook. He loves the ironic couplet, and flirts with exaggeration and understatement in the same line.

    I can't believe the things I've seen
    I wonder bout some things I've heard
    Everybody's crying mercy
    When they don't know the meaning of the word

Bonnie, Van, and the Who all knew. From Young Man Blues to Everybody's Cryin' Mercy, he's 79 years old, and touring 40 weeks a year. From Tippo, Mississippi to Jazz Alley, Seattle. Thanks for making the half-century trip.

    People running round in circles
    Don't know what they're headed for
    Everybody's crying peace on Earth
    Just as soon as we win this war

Find the means to make it to Jazz Alley to watch Mose, with special guest guitarist Larry Coryell, continue to master the genes.

More: moseallison.com | Jazz Alley 6/29 - 7/2 | NPR Jazz Profiles

Goodbye Billy

For folks who share the Bent's vintage, Billy Preston was an omnipresent figure in the worlds of R&R and R&B. He hit our musical awareness in the early '60s when he was touring with Little Richard. The Beatles opened for them in a Hamburg club.

The next time Billy toured Britain, with Ray Charles, he and George Harrison met, leading to the Beatles signing him to their new Apple label.

The rest is history. Considered by many as the real "Fifth Beatle" he played on Let it Be, and the famous rooftop set, the Beatles last live performance. He played with John and George post-Beatles, recorded and toured with the Stones, toured with Eric Clapton, performed with Sly Stone, starred in The Concert for Bangla Desh, and was the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

Billy's own hits include Will It Go 'Round in Circles, Nothing From Nothing, and You Are So Beautiful, which he wrote for Joe Cocker. He died yesterday, in Scottsdale, where he had been in a coma since last November, just over two months after this picture was taken at Bumbershoot, September 4th, 2005.

Keep goin' around in circles.

Just busking in the rain

A rainy Memorial Day weekend didn't stop thousands of folk music, folk culture, and just-plain-folk loving people from taking in Northwest Folklife at the Seattle Center, Belltown's backyard.

The Bent loves to wander aimlessly about, happy to happen upon unexpected magic moments. Buskers are always an attraction. Something about their blend of boldness and vulnerability draws us in. Just standing there making music, confident (hoping) we'll stop, listen, approve, and toss some dough in the can.

This enterprising young man brought along his own stage crew. Buskers, you see, don't play under the protective cover of the stages reserved for scheduled performers. The duo had an arrangement, even though only one was making music. "For every three dollars I get, he gets one."

What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again.

Swing this

Sunday evening the Bent made it over to Jazz Alley for an old-school evening with John Pizzarelli and the Great American Songbook.  This guy is a delightful song stylist, prodigious guitarist, and thoroughly engaging entertainer who happens to swing like a clean-up hitter.

Pizzarelli is the first-born son of the legendary guitar player "Bucky" Pizzarelli. He grew up hanging out and playing with his dad's buddies, guys like Joe Pass, Les Paul and Zoot Simms. He dreamed of being a baseball player but, "I couldn't hit a curve-ball," and the family and friend oriented musician's life he grew up with became his path. He still plays and records with Bucky, and his kid brother Martin plays bass in his working band.

Watch for John, and his beautiful custom signature model 7-string arch-top made by luthier Bill Moll in his home workshop, when he returns with his trio to play with the Seattle Symphony in December. Also, check out a complete bio, more pictures from the Jazz Alley gig, and read Paul de Barros' review of Tuesday's show.

Take time for the timeless

He played Carnegie Hall in 1949, was named Down Beat’s “Best Jazz Pianist of the Year,” in 1950 (the first of several times), and has gone on to earn seven Grammies, thirteen honorary degrees, a Laureate award by The Praemium Imperiale in 1999, and even had a Canadian commemorative stamp released in his honor.

More importantly, Oscar Peterson would tell you, he has taken his music to all corners of the world, playing with the best players in jazz, capturing the hearts and souls of millions with his passionate, melodically inventive, technically masterful, and soulful music.

Oscar will be back at Jazz Alley Aug 29 - Sep 3, but now is the time to book your opportunity to see him. The shows are sure to be sold out soon. And, take a moment to check out more pictures from the Oscar Peterson Quartet's June 2004 stand, featuring the late Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen.

Changing the musical landscape

"Hiromi is changing the musical landscape. Her music, charm and spirit let her soar to unimaginable heights. She is nothing short of amazing." So says her mentor, Ahmad Jamal.

When she was 17 she was introduced to Chick Corea by teachers. He asked her to play. The next day, at his Tokyo performance, he invited her on stage to improvise with him.

The masterful Oscar Peterson recalls in his journal how he marveled "at her command of the instrument, along with her harmonic ideas and unbridled technical control." Great artists recognize greatness.

This week, at Jazz Alley, Hiromi mesmerized her audience with inventiveness, dynamic range, faultless time, and confident command of the club's beautiful new Steinway. She captivated the Bent photographer with her beauty, poise, angular approach to the piano... and remarkable music.

Many writers compare her to Ahmad, McCoy Tyner, even The Bad Plus. I was reminded, at times, of Brad Mehldau. Soon enough, she will attain iconic status of her own. And, would you believe she used to write jingles for Nissan? [more images]

It doesn't get much better

The man has good reason to smile. This weekend his world-class band will be joined by one of the greatest voices in jazz, presenting songs by some of America's greatest composers. How great? How about George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Duke Ellington, for starters.

Clarence Acox, co-director of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, and the band will be joined by special guest Ernestine Anderson for a celebration of the great American songbook, Saturday evening at Benaroya's Nordstrom Recital Hall, and Sunday afternoon at the Kirkland Performance Center.

Ms. Anderson, of whom Quincy Jones once said, "Ernestine's voice sounds like honey at dusk," has received multiple Grammy nominations and countless words of praise. Her performance with SRJO will be a rare opportunity to hear her in the company of some of the west coast's best players.

Clarence also deserves to be happy about his Garfield High School jazz ensemble's Festival Sweepstakes win at last weekend's 39th Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival. Way to swing, Acox!

20, 30, 40, 50 something

I hope I didn't leave anybody out. Jamie Cullum has sung his way into the hearts of folks passing through all of those decades. Unless you haven't heard (of) him yet.

Jamie interprets contemporary songs in such a way they appeal to those of us on the high end of the scale, even though we haven't heard them. And he powers through standards in such a way younger folks think they're brand new. And his own songs will be covered by others. Spin through his "Twenty Something" release, you'll see (hear).

His show at the Moore, next week, has just about filled the rarely used 3rd balcony. Not jazz, not pop, not to be missed music making. Scramble for the last seats. Read Patrick MacDonald's preview, and catch a peek of his last stealth show at the Century Ballroom.

See you in the balcony.