# Winter Jazzfest includes a rainbow of musical expression, as well as a tribute to the heroes: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/01/18/winter-jazzfest-includes-a-rainbow-of-musical-expression-as-well-as-a-tribute-to-the-heroes-video/
- Published: 2018-01-18T09:35:56+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Just as the Montreal International Jazz Festival, widely acknowledged as one of
the biggest and most comprehensive festivals in the world, grew from its initial
incarnation as a couple of venues on a strip of Rue St. **

Denis to a sprawling campus around the city’s Place des Artes complex, so has New
York’s Winter Jazzfest expanded from its initial base of a few clubs on Bleecker
Street to an expansive enterprise encompassing eleven clubs from the East Village
to Tribeca to a trio of spacious venues on The New School campus. Shepherded by 
founder-producer Brice Rosenbloom, the Winter Jazzfest has become, in its 14th year,
a contender on the international scene, right up there alongside other major international
jazz festivals.

Spread across eight days and encompassing more than 100 groups and 600 musicians,
the 14th annual Big Apple bash included a rainbow of musical expression along with
tributes to heroes (Alice Coltrane, Muhal Richard Abrams, Geri Allen) and thought-
provoking panel discussions on social and racial justice, gender equality and immigrants
rights.

![Image result for Kavita Shah jazz](https://i0.wp.com/www.harvardmagazine.com/sites/
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1)

The gifted singer and intrepid improviser Kavita Shah created a stir at Subculture
in her sparse but adventurous duo set with French bassist virtuoso Francois Moutin,
premiering tunes from their upcoming album _Interplay_ on Dot Time Records. Stretching
and exploring standards like “You Go To My Head” and Edith Piaf’s signature “La 
Vie En Rose,” the two shared an uncanny chemistry, as Moutin unleashed his rich,
woody tones with monstrous conviction while Shah soared freely over the barline 
with her phrasing. They also injected Dafnis Prieto’s rhythmically infectious “Blah
Blah” with an appropriately buoyant Afro-Cuban spirit, underscored by Moutin’s rampaging
bass lines. Their set was instantly elevated by the presence of special guest Sheila
Jordan, an important mentor for Shah.

“I met Sheila just a few years after my father and grandparents passed away,” she
told the packed house at Subculture. “She became a force in my life, a guiding light
and presence that I needed.”

In classic New York story fashion, they met randomly on the subway.

Jordan, who pioneered the revealing bass-voice format in the 1950s with partner 
Steve Swallow, told the audience: “It’s a joy to be here on stage. I look at Kavita
as my child. And to see these two young musicians doing it just breaks my heart.
It’s so beautiful.”

Jordan, who was positively beaming at age 89, joined her young proteges on an interactive
rendition of “Falling In Love With Love,” the opening track to her 1963 Blue Note
debut, _Portrait of Sheila_. Sporting her trademark Buster Brown bob, a signature
for more than 50 years, Jordan took great liberties with her phrasing on that Rodgers
and Hart nugget while trading playful eights with Shah near the end of that tune.
Jordan’s haunting take on Horace Silver’s melancholic ballad “Peace” was imbued 
with deep feeling and a subtle socio-politico message when she added the line: “
Peace when the day is done/Peace for everyone.”

![Image result for Fay Victor](https://i0.wp.com/www.bam.org/media/1320443/2013_CafeLive_Jan_FayVictorEnsemble_613x463.
jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

Over at The New School’s 5th Floor Theatre, improvising vocalist Fay Victor unveiled
her new all-star ensemble, SoundNoiseFUNK, featuring soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome,
guitarist Joe Morris and drummer Reggie Nicholson. An uncommonly empathetic band
of deep listeners, Victor’s troupe of kindred spirits traveled to myriad zones in
their purely improvised set. With Morris’ Derek Bailey-like splatters of pointillistic
single notes, Newsome’s remarkable overtones, percussive effects and displays of
circular breathing setting the tone, along with Nicholson’s sensitive and at times
kinetic commentary on the proceedings, Victor was freed up to soar with impunity
as she morphed from character to character like a jazz vocal version of Robin Williams
during their scintillating set. Throughout the course of this continuous stream 
of music, colored by dramatic shifts in events, Victor demonstrated touches of Aretha
Franklin, Yoko Ono, Connie Boswell, Betty Carter and Diamond Galas while also channeling
opera singers, voodoo priestesses and an Islamic sheik singing the call to prayer
along the way. Her spoken word piece, “The Threat,” was potent and powerful, including
the line, “My skin makes me vulnerable to slights/My skin got me in the skin I’m
in,” while also calling out the hypocrisy of the Pilgrims in proclaiming, “No one
else was here/the land was empty and barren.” And while Morris astounded with his
staccato runs, sounding at times like a cross between Johnny Smith and James “Blood”
Ulmer, and Newsome showcased his expansive vocabulary, alternately making his straight
horn sound like a digeridoo, a duck call, a fuzz guitar, it was Victor’s finesse,
ferocity and freestyle abandon that led the way. Watch for the upcoming debut recording
on the ESP-Disk label by this extraordinary musical collective.

![Image result for Brandon Ross](https://i0.wp.com/s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/
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Guitarist Brandon Ross, who wails with distortion-laced authority in the Harriet
Tubman power trio, took a much gentler approach with his For Living Lovers ensemble,
featuring acoustic bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi, trumpeter Stephanie Richards and
his Tubman bandmate JT Lewis on drums. Performing tunes from _Immortal Obsolescence_,
an elegiac song cycle based on the idiosyncratic artwork of Venezuelan photographer
Carolina Munoz, Ross played strictly nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and summoned
up a well of emotion on darkly evocative tunes from the 10-song cycle.

There was a tenderness and fragility to these pieces and an undercurrent of melancholy.
At times turbulent, stirred up by Lewis’ free drumming torrents, their set was marked
by deep listening, sensitive accompaniment and potent solo contributions from Richards.
And on one gently introspective offering, “Name Us Light,” with lyrics by Kip Hanrahan,
Ross sang in a high, fragile voice that sounded like Prince on a somber Carla Bley
composition. Bassist Takeishi is a tasteful and artful accompanist who always seems
to play just the right thing for whatever circumstances he finds himself in. His
musical rapport with Ross throughout this set was hand-in-glove. And Lewis, a master
rhythmatist, shaped the proceedings with his deft touch on the kit with brushes 
and sticks, alternately swinging, grooving and creating a rolling free pulse in 
the tradition of Rashied Ali. This versatile crew ranged from poignant understatement
to frenetic pulsations, while keeping it strictly on the acoustic tip.

![Image result for Jack Wilkins](https://i0.wp.com/s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/
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Every Monday night at the Zinc Bar in the heart of Greenwich Village, four superbly
swinging guitarists meet to showcase their respective chops, along with the art 
of playing together. Collectively known as Strings Attached, the core consists of
veteran guitarist Jack Wilkins, longtime Zinc regular Ron Affif and Mark Whitfield
backed by a rhythm section. A new fourth guest guitarist is added every week. That
regular Monday guitar hang, organized by promoter and longtime champion of guitar
Charles Carlini, was transported to Saturday night at the Zinc with guitar great
Vic Juris joining the regular crew, backed by a swinging rhythm tandem of bassist
Harvie S. and drummer Mike Clark. Wilkins, the presumptive leader and elder of the
group at 73, was playing a Fender Telecaster, rather than his signature Benedetto
jazz box—a rare sight indeed. But that didn’t prevent him from swinging in typically
brilliant fashion on Kenny Dorham’s “Short Story” and Benny Golson’s “Stablemates.”
Affif, who has been playing Monday nights at Zinc since 1996, is a aggressive player
and extroverted stylist who particularly thrives in uptempo settings, as he demonstrated
on “Stablemates.” Whitfield, who may have injected some new-school technology into
the proceedings with his wah-filter pedal, was no less swinging than his six-string
colleagues. Affif and Whitfield paired off for a romp through Cole Porter’s “It’s
Alright With Me” that had them throwing sparks in succession. Juris, who might be
the most technically accomplished of the four, turned in a veritable master class
on string skipping, false harmonics and chord melody playing on his solo rendition
of “Black Orpheus.” Wilkins also explored false harmonics on his masterful rendition
of the ballad “My Foolish Heart,” accompanied only by bassist S. and drummer Clark.
In the tradition of Great Guitars (a ‘70s guitar ensemble featuring Barney Kessel,
Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd), Strings Attached gave six-string aficionados plenty
to cheer about during this Saturday night set at the Zinc Bar.

![Image result for Jamie Baum septet](https://i0.wp.com/www.wiltonbulletin.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/30/2016/02/wilt-Jamie-Baum-Septet.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

Other highlights seen on the scene: a powerful set from by flutist-composer Jamie
Baum’s septet, featuring some particularly strong trumpet playing from Amir ElSaffar
on new material from the group’s upcoming album _Bridges_ on Sunnyside Records, 
which explores Maqam, South Asian and Jewish influences in a modern jazz setting;
a thunderous, expansive set by Harriett Tubman led by bassist Melvin Gibbs with 
guitarist Brandon Ross and drummer JT Lewis, augmented by drummer Warren Trae Crudup
III, bassist Luke Stewart and a frontline of horns consisting of alto saxophonist
Darius Jones, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, trumpeter Jaimie Branch (who
also fronted her own Fly Or Die quartet at NUBLU), exploring material from Ornette
Coleman’s classic double quartet recording, _Free Jazz_; Bassist Bill Laswell lending
his subharmonic dub tones, singing fretless lines and wah-inflected/echo-laden skronking
to a rousing set by Peter Apfelbaum’s Sparkler, a flexible septet that morphed easily
from Afrobeat-flavored jams to gnawan grooves to Zappaesque operatic flights, earthy
funk, feedback squalls and King Crimson-like discipline.

![Image](https://i0.wp.com/downbeat.com/images/news/_full/DSC_2485WEB.jpg?w=640)

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