This week’s Jazz Stream includes legendary musicians and a few lesser-known ones. Might as well mix it up, right? So with Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th you’ll find Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Frisell and Bill Charlap. You’ll also find Sasha Dobson, Emmet Cohen, Ehud Asherie, Keyon Harrold and more.
So here is Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th:
Sasha Dobson Sextet – Smalls – September 15th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT
In 2006 Nate Chinen introduced New York Times readers to singer Sasha Dobson like this:
“Spend enough time around the Lower East Side and you just might encounter a charming young singer with a taste for lilting acoustic folk-pop. She has an eminently listenable voice: sensuous but diffident, and devoid of showy pretense.”
Fourteen years later Dobson has released several albums, EPs and singles. Her most recent EP, Simple Things, was released this spring.
Joining her for this live performance from New York’s Smalls are Vito Dieterle – tenor sax; Dred Scott – piano; Neal Miner – bass; Mauro Refosco – percussion and Kenny Wollesen – drums.
Jeremy Pelt Quintet – Smalls – September 16th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT
Jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has performed/recorded with Ravi Coltrane, Roy Hargrove, Wayne Shorter, Mingus Big Band, Cedar Walton, Gerald Wilson and many more. He’s released twenty albums so far including his latest release, The Art of Intimacy, Volume 1. It’s a beautiful album of mostly ballads, but definitely feels like the right record to listen to in troubling times.
Kevin Whitehead, in his NPR review, said of the album:
“The music’s understated, as if the trio were playing off the cuff after hours. You can hear the nuances, all the subtle shifts in the trumpet’s vocal quality. It’s clear and veiled in whispered tones whether he’s playing open horn or with a metal Harmon mute placed in the bell.”
Pelt will be performing from Smalls with Chien Chien Lu – vibraphone; Victor Gould – piano; Allan Mednard – drums and Vicente Archer – bass.
Emmet Cohen Trio – Smalls – September 17th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT
Composer and pianist Emmet Cohen was reviewed by Gary Fukushima for DownBeat as having conjured up the ghosts of Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines and Art Tatum on his album Dirty in Detroit. That’s some pretty weighty spirits for such a young pianist.
But that’s what appeals about Cohen and his playing. He has one foot in the past and the other firmly in the present.
Of course, none of this comes as a surprise if you are familiar with his Master Legacy Series. These are recordings and conversations with jazz legends.
For this live performance from Smalls, Cohen will be joined by Russell Hall on bass and Joe Saylor on drums.
Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 5 – SFJazz – September 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
If you’ve been reading our previews of Fridays at Five from SFJazz, you know they have streamed a series of concerts celebrating jazz legend Wayne Shorter. The four previous concerts were all 2019 performances that took place when Shorter took ill and couldn’t perform. Each one featured Shorter’s regular band (pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade) with a number of very special guests.
For part five of this celebration we get the man himself: Shorter on saxophone with most of his band. Terri Lyne Carrington played drums for this concert from April 30, 2017.
An all-too-brief review of Shorter’s career would have to include his 11 Grammy Awards, he pivotal role as a member of Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet, his participation with Weather Report, his own recordings and compositions and Ben Ratliff in the New York Times called Shorter, “…probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser…”
For those new to this column, SFJazz makes their concerts available for streaming only at 5:00 PM PDT and only on Fridays. To access the concert you have to sign up for either a one-month subscription (for all of $5 which gives you a month of access) or for a one-year subscriptions (for $60 for a year).
Bill Frisell Trio – Blue Note – September 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT $15
Guitarist Bill Frisell just released Valentine on Blue Note Records. To whom is this particular valentine? His long-standing trio partners Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. Though they had performed together for years, there wasn’t a real document of their work together. The album contains originals and covers and celebrates their musical partnership.
Frisell definitely falls into the jazz genre, but that doesn’t stop him from tackling songs by artists not associated with jazz. He’s recorded music written and/or performed by Madonna, Bob Dylan, Aaron Copland and many more.
This concert from Blue Note in New York costs $15. Advance registration is required.
Bill Charlap and Wynton Marsalis – Village Vanguard – September 18th – September 19th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT
You rarely find piano and trumpet paired for a concert. But if anyone can pull it off, it will be pianist Bill Charlap and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. They will perform two sets from New York’s Village Vanguard this weekend.
I’m not sure either man needs an introduction. We’ve written about Charlap before and have interviewed him about his career. You can read that interview here.
Marsalis is known, of course, not just for his musicianship and composition, but for his fierce advocacy for education. He was also the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 1995 composition Blood on the Fields.
This should be an amazing concert. Tickets to watch either performance are $10 and should be purchased in advance.
Ehud Asherie Trio – Smalls – September 19th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT
The first time pianist/organist Ehud Asherie performed at Smalls he was a teenager. He’s come quite away since those halcyon days. Just ask Dan Bilawsky who reviewed Asherie’s Wild Man Blues from 2019 for JazzTimes:
“The “’ashionably old-fashioned’ label fits Ehud Asherie like a bespoke suit. A knowledgeable purveyor of everything from early Crescent City swing to Harlem stride and bop to the music of a bygone Brazil, this 39-year-old pianist might initially come off as a pure throwback. But with an overlay of wit and whimsy placed atop that vast golden-age repertoire, his status as an au courant artist is ensured. Teaming up here with the classy combination of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Rodney Green, Asherie delivers eight numbers that speak to his massive technical reserves, understanding of the continuum, gifts as an interpreter, and rightful place at the jazz piano summit.
His performance on Saturday from Smalls will include bassist Washington and Joe Farnsworth on drums.
Keyon Harrold – Blue Note – September 19th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT $15
You must be a great musician if you are called on to create the sound of Miles Davis for a film. That’s precisely what Keyon Harrold did for Don Cheadle’s film Miles Ahead. But there’s much more to Harrold than being able to perform like Davis.
Ben Ratliff of the New York Times first encountered Harrold 17 years ago. He recognized immediately how talented Harrold was during Roy Hargrove’s The Trumpet Shall Sound Festival in 2003:
“Mr. Harrold, playing in unfamiliar surroundings, aimed high and played broadly. Through a kind of post-bop classicism, he showed the desire to dominate, and played in a way that only a musician in his youth can play, and it was exciting.”
To date Harrold has appeared on almost 100 albums in in all genres of music. He’s recorded with Beyoncé, Common, Robert Glasper, Gregory Porter, D’Angelo, Maxwell and many more. Earlier this year he released the single Passages with Matt Little, Lagos and Jason McGuiness. His most recent album was 2017’s The Mugician.
No information was available of who the other musicians joining him might be. If we are able to get those details, we will update this post.
There is a fee of $15 to watch this performance. Advance purchase is recommended.
Before we wrap up Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th, I want to recommend an album for you.
Last Friday, Blue Note Records released the debut album by super group Artemis. The self-titled album features pianist Renee Rosnes, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Noriko Ueda, drummer Allison Miller & vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant.
It’s a really terrific album. I strongly urge you to check it out.
That’s our Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th. I hope you enjoy the music and the musicians you do know and also discover new artists you might not have heard before.
Photo of Keyon Harrold courtesy of his website.