Jazz On The Beach 117: Justin Kauflin, Danny Ward & Reality
Late night jazz radio from the Kent coast
Over the Christmas holidays I finally managed to watch Keep On Keepin On, the filmmaker (and former drummer) Alan Hicks’ outstanding documentary about the great trumpeter Clark Terry which won many awards on its release nine years ago. The film focuses on the ailing Terry’s mentoring of his protégé, the young blind pianist Justin Kauflin as he prepares to enter the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. It’s extremely moving and inspirational, you really must see this if you haven’t already. It’s free to stream on Amazon Prime in the UK, Here’s a clip…
For this week’s show I’ve chosen For Clark, a trio recording from Kauflin’s debut album Dedication (Jazz Village, 2015) that was co-produced by Quincy Jones, whose company manages him. With double bassist Chris Smith and drummer Billy Williams, Kauflin plays this beautiful melody with tremendous warmth in every note. His career has had its setbacks, he suffers from severe stage fright and the loss of his seeing eye dog Candy was a major blow, but he’s doing alright, establishing himself as a composer and educator as well as a live performer. I’ll play something soon from his Live At Sam First album which is an excellent live trio recording released last year.
A couple of new UK releases this week…QOW Trio’s exuberant High Noon from their second album The Hold Up (Ubuntu, January 26th) features veteran drummer (and more recently a priest) Spike Wells with tenor saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonerghan and double bassist Eddie Myer. There’s tenor saxophonist Nye Banfield’s Bellarom Gold from Trails and Traces (self-released, January 12th) which may be a pean to Lidl’s instant coffee or something else entirely. I’ve not tried the coffee but the music’s really good with strong horns and fine electric piano. Incidentally, Banfield’s playing a quartet set along the coast from Deal at the Tower Theatre Folkestone on 25 January.
I’m thoroughly enjoying Swing & Soul, the latest album in Posi-Tone Records’ Blue Moods series which is released this week. It’s a tribute to the wonderful pianist, composer and arranger Duke Pearson and features label regulars pianist Art Hirahara, (with Jon Davis on 3 tracks), tenor saxophonist Diego Rivera, drummer (and excellent Substack writer) Vinnie Sperrazza and double bassist Boris Kozlov. For the show I picked Big Bertha, a song Pearson recorded on Sweet Honey Bee for Blue Note in 1967. There’s more this week from the Charles Owens Trio’s sensational Here It Is (La Reserve, December 8th) with Sunshine/Moonglow. This album deserved to be in last week’s best of year show except it came out just too late to be included. I’ll make up for it by playing it throughout the next one.
We celebrate pianist and singer Les McCann, who died last week at the age of 88, with Beaux J. Poo Boo from his psychedelic jazz fusion masterpiece Invitation To Openness (Atlantic, 1972). I was initially tempted to play his iconic Compared To What recorded with trumpeter Eddie Harris on Swiss Movement (Atlantic, 1969) but this felt like something I really needed to hear. There have been some excellent obituaries like this one from Nate Chinen, and you must read Ethan Iverson’s excellent piece on Compared To What, (Ethan’s new album Technically Acceptable will be released by Blue Note later this month).
And finally, another sensational holy grail find from DJ Paul Murphy’s Jazz Room Records, with the 1977 private press album by Danny Ward and Reality that was reissued at the end of September. Led by tenor saxophonist Ward, this was a popular college party and club band in the Seattle area and the album was recorded live at the Tyee Restaurant and Lounge. They played funk covers of the day as well as their own repertoire and I’ve picked this great fun version of Jose Feliciano’s Affirmation (also covered by George Benson) that featuring solos from Ward and pianist Steve Metzker. The band on the album is a quintet so the lineup photo below is different, but there’s some serious ‘70s tailoring on display!
