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The Blue Note 7 is jazz history | Print |  E-mail
Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Jazz's Magificent Seven brings the artform's past to town

Blue Note 7

Davis, Coltrane, Adderly, Hancock, Scofield, Coleman, Monk, Blakey, Shorter … To browse the list of legendary musicians who have recorded for Blue Note Records is to take a virtual stroll along jazz music’s Walk of Fame. Established by German-born Alfred Lion and communist writer Max Margulis in 1939, Blue Note has given birth to recordings by well nigh every major musician from the golden age of jazz. Though the general public will always associate the label with the finest jazz of the ’50s and ’60s, Blue Note is alive and well in the present day under the ownership of EMI and the watchful eye of president/CEO Bruce Lundvall. The company’s recent output includes albums by the likes of Al Green, Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Stacey Kent and Norah Jones.

Add to that list The Blue Note 7, a group of top-caliber musicians assembled specifically in commemoration of the label’s 70th anniversary. Originally the daydream of booking agent Jack Randall, tour producer Danny Melnick and the aforementioned Lundvall, the group is comprised of pianist/musical director Bill Charlap, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, guitarist Peter Bernstein, saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson, drummer Lewis Nash and bassist Peter Washington.

“The members of this band are among the finest improvisers in jazz today,” Charlap declares in Blue Note’s official press materials. “Each one has a distinctive musical voice encompassing the past, present and the future of the art form.” The pianist adds that the various members of the ensemble have performed and/or recorded with such Blue Note luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson and Horace Silver. “This wealth of experience brings depth to the bandstand,” he notes. “From the first time this group played together, I felt a natural chemistry between the players.”

That chemistry has been captured for all to hear on the just-released Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records, which features eight classic tunes by Blue Note artists as arranged for septet by the members of The Blue Note 7. “What we tried to do was to choose compositions which would honor the contributions of many important instrumentalists and composers associated with Blue Note’s classic recordings,” Charlap explains. “The members of the band, as well as pianist Renee Rosnes, contributed arrangements, each one in tribute to a different artist and/or composer.”

Charlap’s own arrangement of Horace Silver’s “The Outlaw” appears on Mosaic, along with such standout cuts as Nash’s arrangement of the title cut (a Cedar Walton composition), Wilson’s take on Thelonious Monk’s “Criss Cross,” and Bernstein’s reinvention of Duke Pearson’s “Idle Moments.” In reference to the challenge of rearranging these pieces for septet, Charlap comments, “Each composition inspires a personal arrangement using all the tonal textures of each of the seven instruments. The material we have to work with is so strong that writing an expanded arrangement is a natural process.”

Blue Memories

Impressive as the material on Mosaic might be, it’s a mere fraction of the group’s live repertoire, which draws from a vast catalog of tunes by Blue Note musicians and composers. The septet will be giving Kuumbwa’s audience the big-picture view on Monday, Jan. 19. It’s more than fitting that The Blue Note 7 should be making a stop at The Kuumbwa, given the club’s long history of putting on concerts by Blue Note players. The first musician Kuumbwa Jazz Society ever presented was, in fact, a Blue Note artist: tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, who gave Kuumbwa’s premiere concert on April 6, 1975.

Stormy weather made it impossible to hold the show at its intended location, San Lorenzo Park, but in the true spirit of jazz, the organizers improvised, flagging down a truck to help move a borrowed grand piano to the Laurel School auditorium (now the Louden Nelson Center). After Henderson warmed a tightly packed audience of a couple hundred dripping-wet jazz fans—some of whom sat in the venue’s window wells—with his innovative, highly nuanced playing, the Kuumbwa staff passed a hat, collecting an average donation of 35 cents per person to come up with pay for the saxophonist. Kuumbwa staff paid Henderson the last $20 or so in quarters. The Jazz Society’s profit at the end of the day? All of $4.

The next concert the Jazz Society put on was a 1975 performance at the Capitola Theater by another Blue Note player: tenor sax player Dexter Gordon. Kuumbwa staff members fared better financially with that show, raising $1,300 toward their goal of establishing what is now Kuumbwa Jazz Center. A few months later, they would bring to the Capitola Theater drummer Elvin Jones, who recorded extensively for Blue Note during the ’60s and ’70s.

Kuumbwa founder and Executive Director Tim Jackson speaks with especial fondness about an Aug. 31, 1992 concert the venue hosted which recreated the lineup from pianist McCoy Tyner’s 1968 Blue Note release, Time for Tyner, also featuring vibraphonist/marimba player Bobby Hutcherson. “They didn’t remember any of the songs that were on that record, but it was still really great,” Jackson recalls. Since then, the same musicians have regrouped many times to perform at various clubs and festivals.

Jackson notes that every Blue Note 7 member has played at The Kuumbwa before, and many at Monterey Jazz Festival, for which Jackson serves as general manager. “I think it’ll be a great combination,” he says. “It’ll be nice to see all of them together, and with Bill as the artistic director, I’m sure that there’ll be some really interesting stuff.”

The Kuumbwa director adds, “I think Blue Note and Impulse are probably the most historic jazz labels, and Blue Note is probably the best known jazz label ever, so I think to be able to share their anniversary is really exciting. We’re looking forward to it, just to be a part of that history.” He also mentions that The Kuumbwa will be one of the smallest venues on the band’s 50-city-plus tour, most of which will take place at larger performing arts centers. “It’ll be a great chance for a Kuumbwa audience to hear ’em up close and personal,” Jackson enthuses. 

The Blue Note 7 plays at 7 & 9 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19 at Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $30 in advance and $33  at the door. For more information, call 427-2227.

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