Some Yusef Lateef tracks, from his album Detroit. With an explainer for the titles. 1st video: Eastern Market: One of the oldest farmer markets in the US, dating back to the 1940s. When Saturday hits, the place will be packed. Plenty of stalls, stores, and restaurants to find something. It's also a popular spot for tailgating during Lions games. I have a lot of memories of going there with my mom as a kid. I go there from time to time. Mainly for the amazing Supinos Pizza, which is due to reopen soon. 2nd video: Belle Isle. A city park situated on an island in the middle of the Detroit River. Great spot to hang out during the summer, bike ride, play golf, or just go to the beach. Lots of weed in the air along with plenty of house music. 3rd video: Woodward Avenue. Detroit's main drag that runs all the way to the suburbs.
The first jazz LP I bought was a Grant Green album with Yusef Lateef on tenor and flute. Always dug his playing. He's got a bit of a Monk, off-center vibe.
My wife and I have been to a show there--it's a great little venue. Smalls and Mezzrow are just a block apart in Greenwich Village. They have a great setup--you can buy a combined ticket for the two of them and catch a set apiece at each on the same evening. We caught the first set from a great drummer-led quintet featuring vibraphonst Steve Nelson from the long-running Dave Holland Quintet of the late 90s/early 2000s at Smalls; then we went down the street to Mezzrow's and caught the second set by a wonderful piano/bass duo. Haven't been back since COVID, but I'm planning at least one NYC trip this year and hope to return.
I'm officially jealous. What I really appreciate here is that these aren't huge names, but are fantastic players. This level of talent and anonymity doesn't show up in numbers like this outside big cities. But it's still local, and a great room (reputed to be the best room in town for a bass. If there's no drummer, there's often no amp needed, from at least two videos I've seen).
Yeah, the only name I remember from that night was Nelson and that's entirely because I knew him from Holland's band. Same here in DC (on a smaller scale than in NYC, obviously)--most jazz I've seen in small clubs are local players and I can't remember names to save my life. (Blues Alley in Georgetown excepted--but Blues Alley is increasingly a smooth-jazz/R&B vocal dinner club, although they still get some big names in straight jazz from time to time. That said--I've seen some GREAT shows from names you WOULD know there over the years).
Here's another streaming club, this one in San Fran, actually a bookstore- Bird and Beckett Books. Playing jazz in an old indie bookstore (I'm making assumptions here) is about as cool as it gets. Real PBS/NPR-level stuff. Bassist Essiet Okon Essiet (Nebraska born! Also, cool-ass name) is definitely a known quantity, so 1/3 of this trio is musicianfamous. More EOE. This time with tenor instead of piano
What do you think of the first record? I think it’s more consistent. Also I met her while she was supporting that first album. I was working at the hotel she stayed at.
I did a few of their streaming shows in the early months of the pandemic. Only time I've actually been there was for the 2023 "Charm City Django Jazz Fest" which unfortunately I had to miss this year (and was at another site regardless).
As many times as I've heard this tune, I've never even noticed that McDonald is on it. Thanks for mentioning it. Jay Graydon is listed as the lead guitar solo here. I like that solo better than any other SD guitar solo I'd have to go with Do It Again, which is also the tune that introduced me to the band, back in elementary school. I think Peg was the second thing I heard that stuck with me, tho. That or Rikki.
I love the Minutemen and played the shit out of Double Nickles on the Dime but the voiceover on this one is wack.
I love the contrasting voices. Don’t know if it inspired the Halo Benders, but I like to think it could have.
Looking at my social media this afternoon: Oh, there's a new Ryuichi Sakamoto film, wonder if it's showing in Detroit. Damn it, I missed it. Will probably buy it and any live shows I can get my hands on of Sakamoto.
Why didn't they do more of this while he was alive? Unless he specifically said, "I don't want the acclaim", it should have been presented to him on a platter. One of the few things that really bugs me is this sicko tendency to deny achievers their due until after they're dead or very close. Only THEN do the buildings get named for them and the tributes come pouring in. It's like there's this twisted hatred of self-confidence or even self-glorification that runs so deep that it causes normal humans to worry that someone somewhere might brag for a bit about their accomplishments. So what? These folks know their value, let them bask in it for a few decades before they get old and die. Humility is more for show than anything else.
FWIW, Ryuichi has me listening to so much piano lately (more trios than solo, but still) hat I hardly have time to listen to horn-led* ensembles. *by "horn-led" I don't mean that the horn player is actually the leader, but horns do tend to take up a lot of aural space and get a lot of attention. A trio, in contrast (IMO) is much more open, and compact at the same time. I don't know how much greatness Scott LaFaro or Ray Brown would have achieved without the space freed up in the Evans and Peterson trios that made them (and in Ray's case, that he helped make) famous.