Crib Notes

BLOWBACK: Scotty Barnhart

On a summer night in 1982, trumpeter Scotty Barnhart saw his future. Then a senior at Gordon High School in Decatur, Barnhart journeyed downtown to the Fox Theatre to see the Count Basie Orchestra perform. He came away from the concert dead-set on becoming a professional jazz man.

“From that time on, I knew I was going to be in the band one of these days,” he says. “I didn’t know how; I just had that feeling.”

Barnhart currently plays lead trumpet in the Basie band and has just released Say It Plain, his first CD as a leader. The album features pianists Ellis Marsalis and Marcus Roberts, trumpeters Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis, and drummer Herlin Riley, among others.

Continue reading “Scotty Barnhart brings jazz to the King Center”

(Photo courtesy The Bloom Effect)

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Like most artists, jazz pianist Bradford must contend with constrictive labels. Though he competed in the nu-jazz category at the Atlanta Jazz Festival’s recent Future of Jazz competition, he found a way to break free from definition. In the end, his band’s hip-hop version of Miles Davis’ “All Blues” struck a winning chord.

So what exactly does his music sound like?

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Once saxophonist Mace Hibbard starts talking about his family, it’s easy to understand why he’s a professional instrumentalist and where his classical, rock, funk and R&B influences come from. Music is in his genes.

“My whole family is musicians,” he says. “My dad is a trumpet player, my mom was an elementary and middle school music teacher, my sister’s an opera singer. The way I got into music was just growing up around it.”

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(Photo courtesy Mace Hibbard)

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Acting is an integral part of singer Kemba Cofield’s live shows. Instead of simply standing still, intoning standards, she gets into every performance.

“I don’t just consider myself a vocalist,” she says. “If I’m talking about love, I show that to the audience.”

Continue reading Show Preview.

(Photo courtesy Kemba Cofield)

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In 2001, U2 embarked on a massive tour dubbed Elevation. Cover bands soon came out of the woodwork, naming themselves after the concerts. As a result, the Atlanta-based quintet Elevation had to live down some false branding early on.

“U2 is an influence of the band maybe, but it has nothing to do with the name,” lead singer Nathan Smith says, noting that fans quickly realized U2 and Elevation played different styles of music. “As the band started to find its sound, it kind of stopped.”

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(Photo courtesy Elevation)

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It’s no huge secret that the best jazz is usually found in intimate settings.

The romantic ideal — finding a burning tenor player at 2 in the morning in a smoky, hole-in-the-wall jazz club, whose playing transcends mere notes and rhythms — may well be the best way to hear jazz, but the music has also flourished in concert halls, university venues and outdoor festivals. Plenty of inspired moments have been heard in these larger arenas, and pianist Benny Green and saxophonist James Moody have both been awe-inspiring when performing in a football stadium in Idaho.

The musicians were joined by singer Nnenna Freelon, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, bass player Derrick Hodge and drummer Kendrick Scott Friday at Symphony Hall for a tour celebrating 50 years of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Unfortunately for the musicians, something seemed cold about the room, and none of them were quite able to piece together snippets of inspiration into a cohesive set.

The octogenarian Moody, with ample comic support from Green, launched into his puckish singing routine “Benny’s From Heaven,” to uproarious applause. And Hodge joined Freelon for a delicate and swinging duet on “Skylark,” but these moments were too few. Blanchard closed the concert with readings from his Grammy-winning rumination on New Orleans.

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CAT POWER

(all photos by Jeff Hahne)

My first reaction to the Echo Project, held this past weekend on 350 acres of farmland south of the city, was one of wonder. Of course, it was beautiful land, but I marveled at the vastness of the concert area on Friday. I had imagined something substantial, but much more low-key than the final arrangement — five stages spread liberally across a vast field with pockets of glass pipe vendors and food trailers spread throughout. It probably wasn’t the size of the venue that struck me, but that there weren’t a lot of people. Official ticket numbers came in much lower than 20,000 concert-goers. (Estimates range between 6,000 and 10,000.) So, there was a lot of room to spread out and see some great bands.

Cypress Hill
It was, by far, the most energetic show I saw all weekend. B-Real’s energy — his banter with the audience, his insistence on crowd participation — was infectious. In the 30 minutes of the performance I watched, I think I witnessed more pot smoked — on stage and off — than I’ve ever been privy to.

J.J. Grey & Mofro
My personal challenge was to explore new musical horizons and blindly take a chance on bands I had either never heard of or had only heard about but never listened to. A set by guitarist/keyboard player/harmonica enthusiast J.J. Grey on one of the more unassuming stages represented my first experiment, and it was a success.

The Flaming Lips

My opinion is going to make me very unpopular: I didn’t think the Flaming Lips’ set was all it was cracked up to be. I was ready for a party, and so was everyone else. That’s what we got, but for me the allure lasted about three songs. Lead singer Wayne Coyne was there in his ball, rolling over the crowd. There were streamers, balloons and confetti. Sure, it was a party, but should a band really create excitement from props instead of music?

THE FLAMING LIPS (more…)

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