PDX Jazz will honor trumpeter Thara Memory as the second annual Portland Jazz Master to kick off the 2012 US Bank Portland Jazz Festival Presented by Alaska Airlines on Friday, February 17th at 7:30pm at the Winningstad Theatre. An influential performer and educator within the Portland community for over 40 years, Memory will use the occasion to present an ambitious, special program in tribute to his inspiration Miles Davis, entitled "Artfully Miles." The show will spotlight the landmark collaborations between Davis & Gil Evans, including compositions and arrangements from the albums Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain.

"I met Miles once but he never taught me straight on. Yet his teaching was so prevalent, for four or five decades he constantly changed the music," remarked Memory. "I hope by doing this program, I can pick up where Miles left off and I can continue going with that torch and making sure it stays lit."

Memory has been an instrumental performer and teacher within the Portlandcommunity for over forty years. He is the renowned teacher of recent GRAMMY® Award winner and Portland-native, Esperanza Spalding. Memory founded the American Music Program in 2005, which is an award-winning youth jazz orchestra with national accolades. In 2006, he earned the Jazz Society of Oregon's "Musician of the Year" award and, one year later, was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. He has also played with seminal musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Henderson, Natalie Cole, Arturo Sandoval, and Eddie Harris.

I spoke with Mr. Memory as he prepared for not only his prime spot in the jazz festival, but also a preview of his opera, “Sherman,” Friday, Saturday and Sunday February 18-20 and then the following weekend. The story is based in the 1940s-50s and also features the jazz-themed art of the late Philemon Reid. This project is unique in itself because it establishes, for the historical record, the role Portland played in the popularity of jazz. Click here to listen to the conversation, along with musical selections from:

Miles Davis – “Will O’ The Wisp” from Sketches of Spain.  Memory’s show will celebrate the collaborations of Miles Davis and Gil Evans, and this tune from Sketches of Spain should be on the program. Among the musicians Memory has assembled to pay homage to these classics are tubist Ja'Ttik Clark (principal with the Oregon Symphony) and violinist Peter Piazza (Portland Opera), as well as lead trumpeter Ben McDonald, bassist Ben Jones, drummer Israel Annoh, pianist Janice Scroggins, trombonist Stan Boch, trombonist Dan Brewster, french hornist Bill Stalnaker, and tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto.

Esperanza Spalding – “Love In Time“from Esperanza. The Grammy winning bassist was a student of Memory’s from the age of eight, and she has followed him into academia. This comes from her second release, featuring her on bass and vocals, and a band including Leo Genovese (keyboards), Jamey Haddad (percussion),  and Otis Brown  (drums).

Bernard Purdie – “Grits & Gravy” from Purdie Good Cookin' – From Memphis Soul Stew to Portland Clam Chowder. Enamored of “Pretty” Purdie’s soulful playing since hearing him back Aretha Franklin on the her live Fillmore West recording of 1971, Memory cut this smoking track with the great drummer in 2007. The band is Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (drums); Linda Hornbuckle (vocals); Jay 'Bird' Koder (guitar); Rob Paparozzi (harmonica); Renato Caranto (saxophone); Thara Memory (trumpet); and Louis Pain (Hammond b-3 organ).

Eddie Harris – “Three Quarter Miles” from Vexatious Progressions. One of Harris’s last projects, this straight ahead session was recorded in Oregon in 1994. Memory provides the Miles’ inflected trumpet on this tune, built on the changes to “All Blues”. The band is Eddie Harris (tenor saxophone); Thara Memory (trumpet); Janice Scroggins, Peter Boe (piano); Phil Baker (acoustic bass); Ron Steen (drums)

Thara Memory – “All in Love is Fair” from Juke Music. The Stevie Wonder ballad gets the Memory treatment from this 1995 recording. Backing Memory are Warren Rand (alto sax), Michael York (tenor sax), Andre St James (bass), Ron Steen (drums), Gordon Lee, George Mitchell, and Joe Keel (piano), Jake Kot (bass), and Greg Fisher (drums).

I don't pretend to have the critical abilities to give you a "best of" list for any year in jazz, and there are always musical  releases I fail to catch up with that likely would make a list. Instead, I've created a number of categories to give you some idea of my favorite recordings of 2011, and Podcast 251 features a selection or two from them. This year's Favorite Things include:

Notable Releases

Vince Mendoza - Nights on Earth

Rez Abbisi’s Invocation – Suno Suno

Marcus Strickland – Triumph of the Heavy

Christian McBride Big Band – The Good Feeling

Sonny Rollins – Road Shows, Vol. 2

Great New Things from Old Friends

Rene Marie - Black Freudian Slip

Monty Alexander – Harlem-Kingston Express

Sammy Figueroa & His Latin Explosion – Urban Nature

New Gary Burton Quartet - Common Ground.

Karrin Allyson – ‘Round Midnight

New Artists and Those Hitting Their Stride

Ambrose Akinmusire - When the Heart Emerges Glistening   

Ben Williams – State of Art

Julian Lage - Gladwell

Warren Wolf – Warren Wolf

Gretchen Parlato - The Lost and Found

Memorable Reissues, Compilations, and Posthumous or Archival Albums

Miles Davis - Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1

Dee Dee Bridgewater – Midnight Sun

Sir Roland Hanna – Colors from a Giant’s Kit

Norah Jones - ….Featuring

Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers - Ugetsu

Tribute Albums of Note

Joe Lovano Us 5 – Bird Songs

Pablo Aslan Quintet – Piazzolla in Brooklyn

Bobby Sansbria & the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra - Tito Puente – Masterworks Live!

Giacamo Gates - The Revolution Will Be Jazz

Yotam – Brasil

Reunions and Collaborations of Note

Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian – Live at Birdland

Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton – Play the Blues

Chick Corea and Stephano Bollani – Orvietto

Stefon Harris/David Sanchez/Christian Scott – Ninety Miles

Bob James & Keiko Matsui - Altair & Vega

Click here to listen to the Podcast, which features tracks  from these releases, including:

Marcus Strickland –  "Bolt Bus Jitter" from Triumph of the Heavy 

Sammy Figueroa & His Latin Explosion –"Cha Cha Pa' Ti" from Urban Nature

Gretchen Parlato - "Juju" from The Lost and Found

Sir Roland Hanna – "20th Century Rag" from  Colors from a Giant’s Kit

Yotam – "Antigua" from Brasil

Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian – "Solar" from Live at Birdland

Etta James, the soul shaking singer who made "At Last" and “I 'd Rather Go Blind” standards, has died,from complications from leukemia. She is survived byher husband, Artis Mills, and her sons, both of who played in her band. She would have turned 74 Wednesday.

Throughout her career, James overcame a heroin addiction, opened for the Rolling Stones, won six Grammys (including a 1994 award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for her album "Mystery Lady," and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.) and was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a teen mother and unknown father (She suspected her father was the pool player Minnesota Fats), she was recognized from a young age for her booming voice, showcased in a South Central Los Angeles church. In 1950, her mother took her to San Francisco, where James formed a group called the Peaches. Singer Johnny Otis (who ironically also passed away this week) , best known for "Willie and the Hand Jive," discovered her and had her sing a song he wrote using Ballard's tune as a model. "The Wallflower," with responses from "Louie Louie" songwriter Richard Berry, made James an R&B star.

Her signing to Chess introduced her singing abilities to a broader audience, resulting in hits including "A Sunday Kind of Love," which originally dates from 1946; and most notably, "At Last," a 1941 number that was originally a hit for Glenn Miller. Later, her stalled career got a boost when she started recording at Rick Hall's FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in the late 1960’s. Her hits recorded there included the brassy "Tell Mama" and the raw "I'd Rather Go Blind.”

James was portrayed by pop star Beyonce in the 2008 film "Cadillac Records," about Chess. After Beyonce sang "At Last" at one of President Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural balls, James lashed out: "I can't stand Beyonce. She had no business up there singing my song that I've been singing forever." She later told the New York Daily News she was joking.

Click here to listen to saxophonist Houston Person do her proud on this version of “At Last” from his Stolen Sweets album in 1977.

Friend of SNC and award-winning author David Fulmer has called to our attention a release that any audio-book loving jazz fan would want to check out:

Dion Graham, who has done such a masterful job reading three of my books on audio, just sent me a few samples of his upcoming release of Miles: The Autobiography. If you ever heard Miles speak, you'll be amazed at Dion's spot-on rendition. If not, this is how Miles sounded when he spoke. If there were Golden Globes for this medium, Dion would nail it.

Click here to go to the "Dion Page" on Fulmer's website and get access to three excerpts from the audiobook. It's the only way to have Miles whisper in your ear in 2012.

I'm getting psyched already for a performance by the SF Jazz Collective at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center March 1, 2012. The all-star band - saxophonist Antonio Hart; trombonist Robin Eubanks, a two-time DownBeat “Trombonist of the Year”; trumpeter Avishai Cohen; Grammy-nominated vibraphonist Stefon Harris.  pianist Edward Simon and  two of the most in-demand sidemen on the international scene—bassist Matt Penman and Eric Harland, winner of DownBeat #1 Rising Star drummer for the last three years - will be performing an all-Stevie Wonder program.

I've done two podcasts already of jazz musicians covering Stevie tunes, so what's one more between friends? Click here to listen to Podcast 253, which includes Wonder-ful versions of Stevie's songs, including:

Ramsey Lewis - "Uptight (Everything is)"

Charles Earland - "I Was Made to Love Her"

Norman Brown - "Too High"

Najee - "All Day Sucker/Easy Going Evening"

Nnena Freelon - "Creepin’"

Danilo Perez - "Overjoyed"

Ray Barretto - "Pastime Paradise"

Hank Crawford - "Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing"

Cedar Walton - "Another Star"

FlavaEvolution - "As"

James Taylor Quartet - "Signed Sealed Delivered (I’m Yours)"

SF Jazz Collective                    Superstition

Rock Star/actor David Bowie turned 65 earlier this week. One of the great musical chameleons of our time – perhaps only Miles Davis tried more musical styles and guises during his career – he’s unfortunately something of a recluse these days, producing little new work. He’s left a body of recorded projects that dominate my iPod – I go nowhere without Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station, Low and ‘Heroes’.

Jazz musicians haven’t spent much time on the Thin White Duke’s catalogue. Other than The Bad Plus’ cover of “Life on Mars?” and New York based Pachora’s version of “The Man Who Sold the World”, I don’t find much interest on the part of the jazz community.

But this may well change. Robert Glasper will include a cover of Bowie’s “Letter to Hermione” on his CD to be released next month. Boston musician Lea DeLaria intends to release an entire album of Bowie covers in the next year. For immediate enjoyment, check out The Wee Trio’s new release Ashes to Ashes – A David Bowie Intraspective.

Based out of Brooklyn, NY, the Trio – James Westfall (vibes), Dan Loomis (bass) and Jared Schonig (drums) – has wisely avoided Bowie’s hit records in favor of more musically interesting selections. As a result, the band is free to experiment and reinvent the tunes. “Ashes to Ashes” alternates between ethereal vibes and a drum heavy sound, while “1984” is supported by the throbbing bass, leaving the vibes room to play over the familiar chords and tune. “The Man Who Sold the World” may be the most melodic song on the CD, turning it into a chamber jazz piece that features truly wonderful interplay between Westfall’s vibes and Loomis’ bass. 

More than a novelty CD, this is an enjoyable piece of work from a talented up and coming trio.

Sam Rivers, the noted saxophone player, died on December 26, 2011 at his home in Orlando, Florida. He was 88 years old. He was among the finest free jazz improvisers of the late 1960’s.

A close friend of the young Tony Williams, Rivers was recommended by the drummer to his boss Miles Davis, who added him to the developing Mile Davis Quintet in 1964. Their performances are captured on the album Miles in Tokyo, and show a band struggling to develop a musical identity. Not surprisingly,  Wayne Shorter replaced him in the fall of that year.

On a series of Blue Note recordings in the middle to late ’60s, beginning with Tony Williams’s first album as a leader, Life Time, Mr. Rivers expressed his ideas more freely. He made four albums of his own for the label, the first of which — Fuchsia Swing Song, with Williams, Jaki Byard (piano) and Ron Carter (bass), was considered a landmark of experimental post-bop, with a free-flowing yet structurally sound style. “Beatrice,” a ballad from that album Mr. Rivers named after his wife, would become a jazz standard.

Rivers pushed further toward abstraction in the late ’60s, moving to New York and working as a sideman with the uncompromising pianists Andrew Hill and Cecil Taylor. In 1970 he and his wife opened Studio Rivbea, a noncommercial performance space, in their loft on Bond Street in the East Village. It served as an avant-garde hub through the end of the decade, anchoring what would be known as the loft scene.

The albums Mr. Rivers made for Impulse Records in the ’70s would further cement his reputation in the avant-garde. After Studio Rivbea closed in 1979, Mr. Rivers continued to lead several groups, including a big band called the Rivbea Orchestra, a woodwind ensemble called Winds of Change and a virtuosic trio with the bassist Dave Holland and the drummer Barry Altschul. With the trio, Mr. Rivers often demonstrated his gift as a multi-instrumentalist, extemporizing fluidly on saxophone, piano and flute.

Although he would tour less as years went on, he was still in demand as leader and sideman, most notably by Jason Moran on his stunning album Black Stars.

Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra — Trilogy (Mosaic), a three-CD set featuring recordings from 2008 and 2009 was released last year. To hear previously unreleased recordings from the orchestra in 2007, can be found as Track 01 and Track 02 at BigOzine.

The personnel are Sam Rivers, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Byard Lancaster, , Rene McLean, Chico Freeman (reeds); Frank Gordon, Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet); George Lewis (trombone, tuba); Charles Stephens (trombone); Youseff Yancy (third trumpeter); Joe Daley (tuba); Don Pullen (piano); Abdul Wadud (cello); Brian Smith, Dave Holland (bass, cello); and Barry Altschul and Charlie Persip (drums)

It takes real courage to record a jazz duo album. There’s no place to hide when it’s just you and your partner responsible for carrying the rhythm, the melody, and the timing. 2012 begins with a release from clarinetist Eddie Daniels and pianist Roger Kellaway, Live at the Library of Congress (IPO Records) that shows what the good things that can happen when individual virtuosos work together as a team,

Given their instruments, it’s not a surprise that some tracks, particularly Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band” have a classical flavor, even when Kellaway throws a little boogie-woogie into his lines. On a jazzier note, their version of Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-A-Ning” alternately swings and swoops as Daniels’ clarinet takes off on flights of fancy.

A Daniels original, “50 State Rambler” finishes things off on a high note, Daniels’ flurries of notes working well with Kellaway’s accompaniment. This is a delightful disc, and it makes one hope other of your musicians will pair up for some evenings as memorable as this one.

2012 is starting out with a bang for the venerable trumpet player Jimmy Owens. Jimmy will be honored as a NEA Jazz Master Tuesday, January 10, 2012 7:30pm at Rose Theater presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center.  Owens, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Sheila Jordan and Von Freeman will be given the nation's highest honor in jazz. Owens will also be the recipient of the 2012 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, primarily for his founding of the Jazz Musician's Emergency Fund, a program of the Jazz Foundation of America.

The week before the award, Owens will lead a sensation septet into Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (Jan 3 through 8, 2012). Scheduled members include Wycliffe Gordon, trombone; Marcus Strickland, tenor saxophone; Howard Johnson, tuba, and baritone saxophone; Kenny Barron, piano; Kenny Davis, bass; and Winard Harper, drums. The band will be supporting Owens standout new release, The Monk Project, which is released on IPO Recordings today.

The Monk Project is more than just a tribute to the eccentric and brilliant pianist and composer. Instead, it is an opportunity for an outstanding arranger to give the tines what Owens calls “A little twist”, and then let the soloists recreate well-known tunes, bringing a new sense of enjoyment of the music of Monk. I spoke with Jimmy just before Christmas, as he prepared for the excitement of the New Year. Musical selections supplementing our conversation include: 

Jimmy Owens – “Pannonica” from The Monk Project. “I wanted it to be slower than the original.”  In bringing the tempo down to that of a ballad, the trumpeter manages to muster a dreamier ambience from one of Monk’s most contemplative compositions. The ensemble sound shines here, supplying suppleness through which the leader’s trumpet alternately brooding and celebratory comes to the fore with sublime clarity.  Gordon’s trombone follows in similar fashion with Barron’s piano statement offering respite from the melancholic mood.

Jimmy Owens – “Blue Monk” from The Monk Project. An oft-recorded number is taken at the unusual, deliberate tempo redolent of a New Orleans funeral march.  Wycliffe Gordon soulfully growls on his plunger muted trombone, and   Barron tinkles his notes with air of a late night-early morning barrel house pianist. Davis and Harper nail down the slow beat, and then push it to a rousing finale led by Owens’ horn.

Thad Jones Repertory Band - "Three and One" from One More: The Summary, Music Of Thad Jones, Vol. 2. Owens has been a valuable member of large ensemble groups led by Gerald Wilson, and he cut his teeth with the Thad Jones Big Bands. Here he pays tribute to his mentor, joining Eddie Daniels, Frank Wess, John Mosca and Benny Golson on one of Jones' best known tunes.

Billy Cobham – Title Track from Spectrum. You might not think of Owens when you think of innovative fusion, but Cobham, a high school classmate of Jimmy’s,  tapped Owens to play trumpet on his solo debut in 1973. The core band is Cobham on  drums and percussion, Tommy Bolin on guitar and Jan Hammer on keyboards, with guests on this title track including Joe Farrell on flute, Ron Carter on bass and Ray Barretto on congas.

Charles Mingus - “ The Arts of Tatum and Freddy Webster“ from Music Written for Monterey 1965, Not Heard... Played in Its Entirety at UCLA.  This legendary recording finally got an appropriate release a year ago by the late bass player’s wife Sue Mingus.. Mingus' sterling backup band on includes Hobart Dotson and Lonnie Hillyer on trumpets; Owens on flugelhorn and trumpet, Charles McPherson on alto saxophone, Julius Watkins on French horn, Howard Johnson on tuba, and Dannie Richmond on drums.

"I'm not a showpiece drummer. ... I feel like I'm an accompanist. It's my sort of thing to make the other people sound good, as good as they can be. I feel like I should accompany them, and I should accompany the sound that I am hearing and make it the best that I can — that I can do." – Paul Motian.

The jazz world lost one of its greatest performers, composers and mentors earlier this year when Paul Motian passed away from complications of multiple myeloma. He was 80 years old.

Motian helped redefine the role of a jazz drummer through his collaborations with pianists Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. He went on to lead his own groups, most notably his trio with saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Bill Frisell.

Guitarist Steve Cardenas was a constant Motian collaborator, particularly as a member of the Electric Bebop Band (EBBB). I spoke with Steve last week as he remembered the great drummer. Click here to listen to that conversation, in which Cardenas tells stories of his times recording and touring with Motian, as well as discusses his recent projects as sideman and leader. Musical selections for the Podcast include:

Bill Evans Trio – “Jade Vision” from Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Motian played drums in one of the greatest piano trios of all-time, the Bill Evans trio with Scott laFaro on bass. This LaFaro composition comes from a June 25, 1961 date at the Village Vanguard in New York City, Sadly, this was the last performance of this seminal trio, as LaFaro was killed in a car accident ten days after the recording.

Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band – “Brilliant Corners” from Play Monk and Powell. Motian’s innovative idea to mix two electric guitarists (Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Cardenas)with two tenor saxes (Chris Potter, Chris Creek) and a solid rhythm section (Steve Swallow (electric bass) and Motian (drums)) comes to fruition on a set of classic tunes from the songbooks of bebop pianists Thelnious Monk and Bud Powell.

Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band – “Roundup” from Holiday for Strings. Cardenas wrote this tune for the EBBB, on what may have been their finest album. The band here is Paul Motian (drums); Pietro Tonolo (soprano & tenor saxophones); Chris Cheek (tenor saxophone); Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas (guitar); and Andres Christensen (electric bass).

Steve Swallow Quintet – “Medley #2 – Grisly Business/Unnatural Causes/The Butler Did It” from a BBC Jazz on 3 Broadcast on November 13, 2011 from Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.  Steve is a sideman for a number of top musicians, and this quintet, which will release an official recording in 2012, is among the finest. Recorded in a performance from BBC Radio are Steve Swallow (Electric Bass), Chris Cheek (Tenor Saxophone), Carla Bley (Hammond Organ), Cardenas (Guitar) and Jorge Rossy (Drums).

Adam Cruz – “The Gadfly” from Milestone. Cruz’s had an interesting take on Latin jazz sensibilities on this 2011 release. A veteran of Danilo Perez’ bands, drummer Cruz put together a band that included Cardenas (guitar); Chris Potter (tenor saxophone); and Edward Simon (piano, Fender Rhodes piano).

Steve Cardenas – “Roundup” from West of Middle. The same tune that Motian recorded with the EBBB was re-done by Cardenas on his CD last year. This trio version is done by Cardenas on guitar, Ben Allison on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.