Nicole Mitchell Revolutionary Exploration Of Worlds from Future Past
by Raul da Gama
The word “revolutionary” may – or may not – be a return to the lexicon of adjectives describing music, an art that has been surfeit with nouns since time immemorial. But when it comes to the flute, it certainly merits its restoration. There are just two flutists who are responsible for this breaking of fresh ground, and both are women. One is Claire Chase, and the other – with a much larger resume in this regard – is the absolutely fearless Nicole Mitchell.
Nicole, together with various iterations of her Black Earth ensembles, has rewritten the palimpsest of what music might or mightn’t be. This is why she has earned the title “Flutist, Conceptualist and Composer.” The descriptive moniker belongs by right to Nicole, an artist who has rocketed way beyond crashing through the glass ceiling into the stratosphere in search of brave new worlds to express herself. And she has exhorted a family of musicians – the expanding core of Black Earth artists – to follow in her wake.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/650284dd42.html#page/6.
Sullivan Fortner: The Making of a Jazz Legend
by John Zaff
In every generation, a handful of jazz musicians emerge with a vision so unique and skills so exceptional that they shape the music of their era. In the realm of jazz piano, icons like Thelonious, Bud, McCoy, and Chick come to mind. Sullivan Fortner stands among the contemporary artists headed towards that elite group.
Sullivan is a virtuoso jazz pianist lauded by critics and, more importantly, deeply respected by fellow musicians. Eminent pianists like Emmet Cohen, Brad Mehldau, and Peter Martin of Open Studio have publicly admired his immense talent. While still in his 20s, Sullivan held the piano chair in the legendary Roy Hargrove Quintet from 2010 to 2017. This period was foundational in forming his musical identity. Since then, he’s collaborated with luminaries such as Theo Croker, Donald Harrison, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Samara Joy, and Paul Simon. However, it’s his work as a leader, particularly his trio and solo recordings, that are making significant waves in the jazz world.
A GRAMMY Award winner and DownBeat Rising Star, Sullivan dazzles in so many areas that it's hard to pinpoint what makes him special. Glenn Zaleski, an innovative jazz pianist himself, notes, “From a purely technical standpoint, Sullivan can do things no other pianist can. His spirit, imagination, and element of surprise are what set him apart.” Glenn even created a YouTube video deconstructing a 20-second Sullivan solo, highlighting the pianist’s extraordinary skills.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/650284dd42.html#page/10.
Gary Bartz: NTU The Future
by Eugene Holley, Jr.
If you could think of all the musical categories of jazz in the last six decades - straight ahead, hard bop, fusion and world music - as way-points in a large stylistic labyrinth, the serpentine fired, alto saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz has effortlessly navigated that musical maze, with imagination, grit, integrity and dedication for the same length of time. He’s recorded over 30 albums as a leader, ranging from his 1967 debut LP Libra (Milestone) and his danceable, Mizell Brothers-produced 1977 classic Music is my Sanctuary (Capitol), to the conscious cadences of his 1972 recording Juju Street Songs (Prestige), and his memorable 1994 release, The Red and Orange Poems (Atlantic). His equally impressive work as a sideman includes working with Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Max Roach, the late Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Norman Connors, McCoy Tyner and Woody Shaw.
The Baltimore-born, Oberlin-based Gary comes to Le Poisson Rouge fronting an invigorating combo of mostly Washington-based musicians, including bassist James King, guitarist Paul Bollenbeck, keyboardist Marc Cary and drummer Kassa Overall. Gary and company will be celebrating the 55th anniversary of the leader’s 1970 albums, Home!, Harlem Bush Music - Taifa and Harlem Bush Music – Uhuru (Milestone), all featuring Bartz’s pioneering NTU Troop: an ensemble that fused jazz, soul and Afro-Swahili inspired music that reflected the revolutionary period of the ’70s.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/650284dd42.html#page/12.
Becoming Jon Faddis: From Being Son-of-Dizzy
by Raul da Gama
Once upon a time – as the musical not-so-fairytale goes – an incredibly young Jon Faddis was taken under the wing of the Co-Chief High Priest and Druid of Bebop – John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie. Dizzy went even further to say that he had made Jon his adoptive son. A quick rewind is in order here:
Jon was a musical prodigy who picked up the trumpet to play with an uncommon degree of fluency when he was just seven years old. Legend has it that he was inspired by an appearance by Louis Armstrong on the Ed Sullivan Show. Doors magically opened quite soon after. Bill Catalano, an alumnus of the Stan Kenton band, hipped Jon to the music of Dizzy. But Jon was shy to even speak to his idol when, at 12 years of age, he first met Dizzy at a club called Basin Street West in San Francisco.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/650284dd42.html#page/18.
Danny Simmons: A Multi-talented Griot
by Raul da Gama
You cannot have “Danny Simmons the Poet” without “Danny Simmons the Neo-African-Expressionist Painter.” And you certainly cannot have either artistic personae without “Danny Simmons the Heart-Soft Philanthropist.” The three are so closely interlinked that often you cannot tell them apart. Danny is one of the three wise men. His journey is like a magus – or more appropriately – as this eldest brother of the Simmons family, who is, in everything he does, a modern-day Black American Griot, and a truth-teller who holds extraordinarily little back; and he is a patrician, albeit self-deprecating, gentleman.
Danny is the very epitome of a human prism, and to that extent he represents life itself: the white beam of light – that light of life – appears to have passed through his mind’s eye as he began to perceive the gifts he inherited from his father, Daniel Simmons Sr., who was, among other things, a poet and black history professor, and Evelyn Simmons, a teacher who painted. “Mom taught me to look beyond what was visible,” Danny says. “She taught me that it was possible to paint a dream in color. Still, I never really thought I’d be a painter. I had been writing poetry since I was eleven years old. However, one day, I had a bad case of writer’s block. The blank canvas filled faster with colors and sweeping lines, circles, and figures instead of the blank page with words.”
Remember the analogy of the human prism, into which passing white beams of light turned out to be life itself? Now think of the colored bars that emerged on the other side that reflect Danny’s wisdom, turning life experiences into poetry and painting. Danny’s life seemed to unravel just like that.
To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/650284dd42.html#page/42.
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