Jazz on the Beach 176: John Patitucci, Yotam Silberstein, Vega Trails, Roberta Flack, Bobby Broom & Chicago Jazz Orchestra
Harold Vick, Rudolph Johnson, Charles Tolliver, Peter Edwards, Nadav Schneerson, Sultan Stevenson
On this week’s Jazz on the Beach radio show playlist there are two new trio tracks that feature double bassist John Patitucci. The first is on his own appropriately sharp Think Fast from Spirit Fall (Edition, 14th February), with tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and drummer Brian Blade.
The second is on guitarist Yotam Silberstein’s mellow Blue Gardenia from Standards Vol. 2 (Jojo Records, 18th April), with drummer Billy Hart. Both tracks are as terrific as you would expect from musicians of this first-rate calibre, and the warmth that the 84 year old Hart brings to the groove of the ‘50s movie theme is just beautiful.
Sticking with bassists, there’s Portico Quartet founder member Milo Fitzpatrick’s Vega Trails with the somnambulant Sleepwalk Tokyo from Sierra Tracks (Gondwana, 28th March), where he’s playing double bass, keyboards, synth and percussion. There’s an excellent performance video below where Fitzpatrick just plays double bass with pianist Taz Modi and drummer Pete Hill. I like both versions, they’re ‘the same but different’.
Also this week, there’s the stately Purpose, a second track from pianist and Tomorrow’s Warriors alumni Sultan Stevenson’s second album El Roi (Edition, 28th March), with his established rhythm section of double bassist Jacob Gryn and drummer Joel Waters (more Warriors).
Stevenson joins drummer and bandleader Nadav Schneerson (yet another Warrior), on the exciting title track from Sheva (Kavana Records, 11th April). The title means ‘seven’ in Hebrew, a number of huge significance in Judaism and Western and Eastern culture in general. It’s the centrepiece of this seven track album performed by a septet that, in addition to Schneerson and Stevenson, also features trumpeter Sam Warner, trombonist Will Heaton, tenor saxophonist James Akers, double bassist George Richardson and oud player Ekin Öykener.
Just to keep the Tomorrow’s Warriors link going there’s the exhilarating Byron’s Blues by the pianist, composer, arranger and conductor Peter Edwards from his Jazzlotion EP, (Jazzlotion, 2010), with double bassist Max Luthert and drummer Saleem Raman. It swings like crazy and was recorded live to stereo tape (no overdubs, no mixing) by Tony Platt who has a great new Substack. Edwards is the closest thing we have in the UK to someone like Billy Childs, and his work with the Nu Civilisation Orchestra is phenomenal.
A favourite Strata-East release (there are many) is tenor saxophonist Harold Vick’s Don’t Look Back (Strata-East, 1974). Opening this week’s playlist is the album’s title track with trumpeter Virgil Jones, euphonist Kiane Zawadi, pianist and tubaist Joe Bonner, flautist George Davis, double bassist Sam Jones and a much younger Billy Hart on drums. This track is also on the new digital only compilation Strata-East: The Legacy Continues, streaming now.
One of the co-founders of Strata-East was trumpeter Charles Tolliver. the intense Earl’s World was not a Strata-East release though, but from the album Charles Tolliver Music Inc. Live at the Captain’s Cabin (Reel to Real/La Reserve, Nov 2024). Recorded in 1973 at a small club in Edmonton, Canada, with pianist John Hicks, double bassist Clint Houston, and drummer Cliff Barbaro, this is strong stuff.
Strata-East and Black Jazz Records existed at around the same time on opposite coasts of the US, and there’s the extraordinary tenor saxophonist Rudolph Johnson’s Sylvia Ann from his debut Spring Rain (Black Jazz Records, 1971), with pianist John Barns, double bassist Reggie Johnson and the appropriately named drummer Ray Pounds. His second album The Second Coming (Black Jazz Records, 1973), may be better known, but both are indispensable.
As you have surely heard, Roberta Flack died this week at 88 years old, and although extremely sad news is a highly appropriate age for a pianist. There’s her first recorded version of Eugene McDaniels’ Compared to What, the defiant and compelling opening track on her debut First Take (Atlantic, 1969).
She may be associated by many with her better known songs, but this is a truly wonderful vocal performance over an irresistible groove laid down by her piano, Ray Lucas’ drums and Ron Carter’s sensational bassline, with stabbing horns from tenor saxophonist Frank Wess, trombonist Bennie Powell and trumpeters Jimmy Nottingham and Joe Newman. May her memory be a blessing.
And finally…..there’s the Chicago Jazz Orchestra featuring guitarist Bobby Broom with Burt Bacharach & Hal David’s What the World Needs Now is Love from the album More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (Chicago Jazz Orchestra Records, 28th March). Broom is a true Chicago jazz guitar hero, and sounds perfect in this gorgeous orchestral setting, while the song’s message is as true as it ever was.
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