New Orleans Jazz Veterans - The James Singleton Quartet

December, 2013

Fulfilling the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic function, Modern Jazz Bassist, James Singleton and his quartet rocked New Orleans' own Cafe Istanbul in November and December 2013.

Mike Dillon, Larry Sieberth, and Tim Green complete the quartet. Together they all served up a big steaming bowl of New Orleans gumbo with a twist of the revolutionary avant-garde. These jazz veterans are New Orleans' mainstays.

Each show amounted to a couple of hours of intelligent groove informed by jazz but rarely beholding to it. With improvisation as a blinding non-idiomatic force, the performances were impressively done with great continuity. This important avant-garde blend of jazz proves that this quartet thrives on high velocity.

Singleton is a composer and a bandleader. This New Orleans preeminent modern jazz artist has worked with a wide array of musicians. The short list include: Professor Longhair, Aarron Neville, Joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Clark Terry, Ellis, Branford, Wynton, and Jason Marsailis, Natalie Cole, Eddie Harris, John Schofield, Charlie Rich, Lars Edegran, Teddy Riley, the Wild Magnolias and the short list gets longer.

Picture Singleton in the driver's seat improvising on bass, simulating unique genius, and getting his dance groove on with his instrument like a dance partner. Add to the mix, his playing a tiny trumpet. It's like nothing you've ever seen before.

Singleton's base provides the bottom and the pulse. It probes and prods working in tandem and in team with drummer/vibraphonist, Mike Dillon's rhythmic decorative embellishment of harmonic and melodic material to the other players. Singleton further grounds and guides a performance of improvisational music, leaving plenty of room for each player as he deploys his forces ingeniously.

Few musicians combine the chops and vision of Mike Dillon, a percussionist, vibraphonist, and bandleader in his own right. Having been on the New Orleans scene for many years, his sound is intense. With attitude taken from punk rock with a slightly dirty loud found in rock 'n' roll, he'll slip in a little Lionel Hampton as a side dish. This deceptive complexity makes you want to shake that booty, but then changes textures at the drop of a dime.

Playing as unit of all-stars, the music is very free structurally. Singleton leaves plenty of room for each player to "throw down" hard and heavy. His bow takes an audience into a profound abyss of blending his harmonics with the overtones provided by Larry Sieberth's piano, creating a bridge into the spiritual world.

Hunched over the piano in a "Schroeder" - like manner (the fictional character in the comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schultz), Sieberth uses his mystical powers to make the piano "talk" in many languages. Ace sideman on the New Orleans modern jazz scene, Siebert, is grounded in the traditional jazz canon. While Sieberth plays piano in the spirit and tradition of New Orleans, his influences are not necessarily the usual New Orleans influences.

On stage Sieberth reveals something entirely different by taking his audiences on a journey beyond entertainment by surprisingly expanding your perception of what New Orleans music is and has the potential to be. According to Tim Green, the quartet's saxophonist, "He's a wizard."

As pianist, composer, arranger, musical director, educator and  producer, Sieberth has collaborated with musicians on the international scene. Honored as an outstanding jazz pianist by New Orleans Magazine, his soundtracks for television, film and stage have earned him numerous awards, including a "Telly".

Tim Green serves up a high level of improvisation on saxophone in a powerful language that heats up the jazz renaissance reminding us of where jazz has been, where it is, and where it is going. According to Singleton, "Tim's alto saxophone brings it all home for us."  

Green has fond memories of playing the "Bay Area Jazz Scene." Having played "The Boom Boom Room" many times, Green is smitten by the music of Latin Jazz artist Marquez of Oakland.

Green credits the senior music students at Berkelee during the time of his stint of formal jazz education there. "The institutionalized jazz during my time was not necessarily the place for me. I'd listen to the best players there, and take notes from their playing," said Green.

The saxophonist extraordinaire has a deep linguistic conversationalist playing style that goes over big on stages for live audiences where the musical "moment" happens. Some of his best work is there. "We're so spoiled here in New Orleans with music all over the place," shouted a woman from the audience, "I heard Tim Green play earlier today at another show."  A saxophonist of vision and self-assurance, Green has worked extensively on the New Orleans jazz scene.

Although based here in New Orleans, this preeminent team of musicians are not strangers to "The Bay Area." Jamming on the jazz scene at Yoshi's Oakland, in San Francisco at the Fillmore, and The Boom Boom Room in their own individual bands is a common occurrence. "I just performed at The Boom Boom Rom in San Francisco with "my" band last week," said, drummer Mike Dillon. 

At the end of the show, Singleton said, "Tonight was one of those nights where everything came together." According to Green, "This is more fun for me than anything. People beyond New Orleans need to hear what we're playing."

Traveling The Main Line Of Jazz In The Neighborhood

On July 28, 2012, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music paid tribute to one of Oakland's own treasures and legendary musicians, Donald Duck Bailey.

Donald "Duck" Bailey - photo courtesy of East Bay Express 11/11/09

"Well known as premiere time keeper of the traps, Duck also plays harmonica, has done time on the trombone and numerous other instruments," says Greg Bridges of KCSM and KPFA.

"For more than five decades, Bailey has helped define the pulse of jazz with a well-known sound having far reaching affects.

Dating back to his nine-year tenure with Hammond B3 legend Jimmy Smith from 1956-64, Bailey's influence has endured.

Having created a lithe trap set vocabulary that gave Smith room to lay down fat pedal-generated bass lines, Bailey expertly drove the thrilling crescendos that contributed to Smith becoming such a dynamic performer," stated All-About-Jazz publications.

Oakland and the Bay Area have always played a big part in the jazz and music scene.

According to Bridges, "When you think of folks like Richard Wyands, Jerome Richardson, Steve Turre, John Faddis, and Kev Choice, you think of all the places like this.

The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music has given a space for young musicians. Some that may not even know they're interested find and develop the interest to learn and grow from the seasoned teachers and veterans. And, to see these young musicians go and embark on the next chapter and off to college."

Tracy Fitzsimmons, trumpeter

"The music I just heard these kids play inspires me," says Steve Turre.

Fredrick Douglas Youth Ensemble - Kev Choice, Director

OPC provides year around economical study in a variety of musical arts and value innovation and scholarship in their quest to preserve the musical traditions of Oakland.

As part of their annual fundraiser, the community had an opportunity to experience known talent and make generous contributions.

OPC's own Fredrick Douglas Youth Ensemble opened the program with jazz standards and Latin jazz renditions.

Master musician Steve Turre, known as a passionate leader and one of the world's preeminent jazz innovators was the featured act.

As a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984, Turre also leads several different ensembles.

The trombonist and seashellist grew up in the Bay Area where he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues and jazz. Turre has consistently won the "Readers and Critics" polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for "Best Trombone and Best Instrumentalist" on the shells.

After having tenured with Ray Charles and Woody Shaw, Turre was soon after brought into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Handcock, Mongo Santamarie, and Van Morrison are only a handful of the many great musicians Turre has toured with.

Turre led a jazz dream team of artists in this tribute to Bailey. Joined by Glen Pearson on piano, Jeff Chambers on bass, and Donald Robinson on drums, this highly propulsive ensemble had downtown Oakland swinging.

Steve Turre

Glen Pearson

Pearson, scholar of jazz pianoism, is a native of Oakland, CA and heads the Music Studies Department at the College of Alameda. Having performed as principal keyboardist for Regina Belle, Pearson has performed with Jimmy Scott, Ernestine Anderson, Diane Reeves and a long list of jazz greats.

Steve Turre and Jeff Chambers

Bassist, Chambers has shared the stage with luminaries such as Buddy Montgomery, Dizzy Gillespie, Les McCann, and Abbey Lincoln. Chambers has performed at many of the world's premier venues, including the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Fijitsu Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival among others.

Donald Robinson

 Known as an active player on the San Francisco Avant-garde jazz scene, drummer, Robinson has performed and recorded with many of the great improvisational players.

From saxophonist John Tchicai, to violinist India Cook, to koto player Miya Masoaka, the classically trained perfussionist has performed with a broad range of musicians throughout Europe and the US.

In this tribute to Donald Duck Bailey, the OPC audience took a ride on Jazz's main line as Turre and the ensemble delivered heavy weight standards.

Some of the standards performed were, With A Song In My Heart, Delicious And Delightful, and Something for Sweets.

As Turre, known for swinging on trombone, magically snapped his fingers, the audience swung back to a time when jazz was ascendant in the neighborhood.

Steve Turre

"Jazz is all about feeling the music," says Turre.

Photos by Dinah deSpenza

Tia Fuller Takes "Decisive Steps" In Jazz

This article was originally published by the Pioneer Newspaper at California State University, East Bay on June 7, 2012

Taking giant steps on SF Jazz’s stage in 5-inch stilettos, saxophone blowing, Tia Fuller’s performance commanded a standing ovation from jazz enthusiast at the Yerba Buena Center For The Arts.

Clad in a skintight reptile print short dress with sparkling embellishment, baring bronze shapely legs, Fuller gave her audience an unforgettable show.

On stage Fuller’s horn becomes an extension of her body. Her artistic expression is strong, agile, and buoyant. Fuller’s elegant full-bodied saxophone lines effortlessly improvise many moods and grooves.

Backed by an equally yoked quartet, show-stopping Ralph Peterson heated up the drums with Orin Evans on piano and Alexander Toth on bass.

Fuller’s artistry, versatility and ingenuity in musicianship illuminated the stage.

As a composer and bandleader, Fuller’s compositions are an illustration of swinging forward into the next level of life and being consistent in the mindset of progress and greatness.

Fuller has released three albums: Decisive Steps, Pillar of Strength, and her debut album on the Mack Avenue Records label, Healing Space. Healing Space a collaboration with trumpeter Sean Jones.

Moving miles ahead, advancing the jazz continuum, while remaining open and engaged in other musical dimensions, Fuller is also known for performing center stage with superstar Beyoncé.

“After performing with Beyoncé, I saw how she communicated with her audience and brought them 
into the music,” said Fuller. 

 

The sultry saxophone player’s musical identity was formed long before she joined the all-female backup band of hit-making singer Beyoncé.

Fuller's storyline began in Aurora, Colorado, where she grew up the daughter of two musically inclined schoolteachers/administrators.

Fuller’s art and jazz filled childhood included listening to John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughn and Charlie Parker with her musician parents. 

Her father Fred plays bass, her mother Elthopia sings, and her older sister, Shamie Royston, is a talented pianist who, sometimes gigs with Fuller's band.

Sister Shamie Royston is a composer in her own right. Royston is the wife of drummer Ruddy Royston.

At age three, Fuller began playing classical piano. By the age of nine she played flute and by high school she began playing saxophone.

Continuing her musical education at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, Fuller graduated Magna Com Laude in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. Fuller received a Master’s Degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“When I went to grad school to get my Masters, I realized that I truly enjoyed teaching. It was something that was almost genetically passed down, that I couldn't get away from even if I wanted to, said Fuller."

Even though Fuller’s current performing schedule precludes a regular teaching post, she is often a guest lecturer and teaches ensembles and master classes at universities and jazz festivals while touring.

 

The dynamic saxophonist has been featured in Jazz Improv Magazine, Down Beat magazine and many other print and online publications.

Following the footsteps of masters like Cannonball Adderley, Jackie McLean and Kenny Garrett, Fuller’s credits include a long list.

Fuller has performed with T.S. Monk, John Faddis, Jimmy Health, the Duke Ellington Big Band, Wycliffe Gordon, Nancy Wilson and many more.

While her lists of credits shine bright, Fuller has endured her share of gender issues as a female saxophone player.

A woman is first greeted with raised curiosity and skepticism when she shows up for an audition or a jam session, especially with a horn. There is a buzz throughout the entire building before she plays a note.

“There have been those who have had problems with me being a female horn player, expecting me to constantly prove myself, and wanting to tell me how to dress,” said Fuller.

Creating amazing bodies of work, Fuller leads the pack as women jazz horn players become more ubiquitous. 

At home at all points of the music-verse, her show stopping, scintillating, swinging jazz performances and recordings represent today’s modern female musician.  
 

Getting Your Jazz Fest On in New Orleans

Originally published May 31, 2012 by The Pioneer Newspaper - California State University, East Bay
 

Some 400,000 happy ticket holders ate, drank and danced their way through gorgeous weather at the 43^rd annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

Providing a huge economic boost for a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, Jazz Fest caps a string of major tourist events in New Orleans.

Created by the New Orleans Hotel Motel Association, Jazz Fest has been a product of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Foundation since 1970. 

 

According to spokesman Scott Aiges, "Part of our mission is to make culture accessible to the widest number of people possible."
“This is my fourth year coming to the festival and the surrounding activities,” said Joann Seaver of Walnut Creek, CA. Seaver received her Masters Degree and teaching credential from CSUEB during the 1980s in the days of CSU Hayward.

“This is my tenth year here. It is the center of the Universe,” exclaimed Alvin J. Brooks of Oakland, CA.  Brooks, born in Louisiana, is also a CSUEB alumni who received his Masters degree during the 1970s.

  In addition to Jazz Fest, the foundation produces other large free festivals throughout the year. 

  Some of the festivals are the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival and the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival among others. The spiritedness of the festivals attracts tourists and provides vitally needed employment to local musicians. 

  The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Foundation also owns and operates WWOZ, the New Orleans public radio station. The station provides broadcasting and web casting of jazz, blues, zydeco, Cajun, funk, country and other regional sounds represented at Jazz Fest.  
The festival takes place over a two-weekend period that includes acts from all over the world.

 

 

Some of the acts that kicked off the festival were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and the Eagles.
The 50th anniversary reunion of the Beach Boys attracted baby boomers near and far.

Performers like Cee Lo Green, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Ne-Yo, Cubano Bop: Puncho Sanchez and his Latin Band featuring New Orleans' own Terrence Blanchard jammed even harder.

Many other top headliners performed along with hundreds of the best acts from Louisiana.

From Irma Thomas' Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, to Dr. John, John Boutte, The Stooges Brass Band, New Birth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, to the Mardi Gras Indians and many more.

According the David Freeman, General Manager of WWOZ, New Orleans, "I always tell the novices to pace themselves for Mardi Gras so they can last 'til Tuesday. But it's just the opposite with Jazz Fest. The best advice I can give you is to start cutting down on sleep around January. Say an hour every two weeks - so that by the time you hit the last weekend in April through mid-May, you don't need any sleep at all. It's the Crescent City version of boot camp, just as second-lining and dancing at the drop of a high hat cymbal beat is how we maintain ourselves aerobically."

For example, the first weekend of Jazz Fest at the Fair Grounds and every great night concert from a slew of venues across the city are some of the events to consider.

There is a way to identify the die-hards from the amateurs.

The die-hards raced from the Fair Grounds which closed Sunday nights at 7pm. This left enough time for fans to join musicians like Jon Cleary at 8pm, followed by Papa Grows Funk with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux at 11pm capped off with a set by Lightnin Malcolm at 3am, all at the smoke-free and sound-level friendly dba Club, at 618 Frenchman Street.

On Monday following the first weekend of Jazz Fest, many jazz fans headed to Armstrong Park into the glorious sunrise for another concert.

At 6 am, with café au lait and beignets from Café du Monde, fans began entering the park to the sounds of congas and tambourines. Only the very serious die-hards were there for the Monk Institute presentation of a spectacular one-hour program in honor of International Jazz Day in Congo Square. 

  The performance included New Orleans’ own Luther Gray and ten drummers, the Treme Brass Band, Ellis Marsalis, Dr. Michael White, Bill  Summers, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Roland Guerin, and Herbie Hancock. WWOZ broadcasted the concert live for those who could not make it.  

 

"After that, it's time for a power nap," said Freeman. 

Die-hard or amateur, from noon to 7pm the Louisiana Music Factory, 210 Decatur Street included in-store performances of Meschiya Lake and Tom McDermott, Mia Borders, Trombone Shorty, Shamar Allen and more.

Across the street at the House of Blues, WWOZ presented and broadcasted live, the 24th annual Piano Night. This fest featured a host of famous piano players simultaneously performing from three stages till two in the morning.

With enough time for in between power naps, and plenty of energy for non-stop music at the local nightspots and numerous street musicians, fans partyed until they dropped.

 

Jazz Is Taken Seriously at CSUEB by Dinah deSpenza

March 12, 2012

The room was full and the music was swinging as New York trumpeter Marvin Stamm performed with CSU East Bay jazz ensembles at the 13th Annual “Night of Jazz” fundraiser Monday night.

This event has become one of the best regular jazz events held annually at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Jack London Square, Oakland. Each year, prominent performers and composers perform with CSUEB jazz students, benefiting the Music Department Scholarship and Special Events Funds.

“I come every year. The students are excellent up-and-coming players,” says Ruth Major.
Major is a CSUEB alumna, who graduated in the late 1980s.

All proceeds go to the CSUEB Music Scholarship and Special Events Funds.

Here, students get to pursue the more academic and experimental aspects of their art and perform at world-class Yoshi’s, while developing professional connections and honing their improvisational skills.

This performance is just one of Marvin Stamm’s contributions to the jazz culture in the U.S.

“I’m not the important one on stage – these students are the important ones here,” said Stamm.

CSUEB Jazz Studies consist of several groups. This year there was the East Bay Electric Jazz Ensemble, the East Bay Contemporary Jazz Ensemble and the East Bay Jazz Orchestra.
“Every year they step it up more,” said Johannes Wallman, Director of Jazz Studies.

In a repertory of tough pieces like “Caravan” and Thad Jones’s “Cherry Juice,” the East Bay Jazz Orchestra rose to the occasion in an explosion of virtuosity.

For guitarist Leo Shulman and tenor saxophonist Chris Almada, the highlight of the evening was getting to work with a musician as experienced as Stamm.

According to Jan Attard, “This performance was very passionate.” Attard’s son, Alex Attard, plays alto sax with the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Orchestra.

The legendary trumpeter Stamm pulled it all together as he delivered high level improvisations with astonishing harmonic acuity and a uniquely liquid, even sound like only a veteran musician could.
Stamm’s high-energy performance forced the orchestra to swing like true professionals.
“I have to hit a high note every once in a while to show the young how it’s done,” Stamm said jokingly.

Stamm brought humorous microphone breaks between songs but concentrated all his efforts on his love of jazz and the need to keep it alive and strong.

“We are living in a cultural wasteland in this country,” said Stamm. “Our one contribution is very underappreciated. My message to you is if you appreciate jazz, think of one or two people who have never been to a concert like this and bring them into the fold.”

An excellent bop-based trumpeter, Stamm is a high-demand session player throughout much of his career and has been a trumpet soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

Having toured with Woody Herman, Stamm gained considerable recognition playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Pearson Big Band as well as performing with Frank Sinatra, the Benny Goodman Sextet and performing in the NYC recording studios.


German-born Wallman grew up on Canada’s Vancouver Island studying piano and guitar before attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music and earning a Ph.D. in Jazz Studies at New York University.

The two-time Canada Council artist grant recipient has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Wallman has performed with the Dennis Mitcheltree Quartet, the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble and the American Music Group. Other noted musicians he’s performed with are jazz tubaist Howard Johnson and drummers Jeff Hirshfield, Danny Gottlieb, Tim Horner, bassists Jeff Andrews and Martin Wind and many more.

As an educator, Wallman taught at New York University and the New School for Jazz before his appointment to Director of Jazz Studies at CSUEB.

A Rare Convergence of Percussive Flurry By Dinah deSpenza

March 2, 2012

The second set of John Santos Latin Jazz Sextet held Friday night at Yoshi’s Oakland opened with an explosion of virtuosity, resulting in a standing ovation.

The five-time Grammy nominee sang, played congas and a variety of Afro-Cuban percussions, as well as Puerto Rican plena and bomba.

As a percussionist, Santos has long been associated with drumming in Sub-Saharan Africa and West African-influenced drumming.
Known for his innovative use of traditional


forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music, Santos’ innovation continues to challenge and makes even the most experienced musician’s knees rattle.




Santos tore through a set’s worth of compositions that set bass ostinatos, played by the bassist Saul Sierra, against percussion flurries.

The group’s pianist Marco Dias and special guest pianist Jovina Santos Neto blended together numerous harmonies against the rhythms of David Flores’ rolling drums.

Saxophonist Melecio Magdaluyo and trumpeter Marco Diaz pulled everything all together standing far beyond the ordinary.

Special guest violinist Anthony Blea, in a kinetic merger of melody and percussive syncopation with the sextet, extended the jazz harmonies even further.

This wide stylistic palette, bolstered by a surge of percussion, was brought to the table and reeled off their best playing of the night.

The Bay Area has a community of musicians who specialize in the Afro-Cuban/tropical realm of Latin Jazz.

Tropical is used to describe the forms of Spanish-language Latin music having African influence, including Afro-Cuban salsa, Dominican meringue and bachata, Puerto Rican plena and bomba and Colombian cumbia. Latin music from Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, provides an altogether different flavor.

 

“The highlight of tonight’s show for me was sharing the stage with the guest artist Jovina Santos Neto, from Brazil and Anthony Blea,” said Santos. “They provided our sextet with a very unique combination of music.”

On piano, Neto dedicated one of his compositions to Santos that translates from Portuguese in English to “lightening and pepper.”
 
“What a combination—lightening and pepper. The spirit of truth through music creates unity,” said Neto.

While there were traces of predictable song forms with the occasional vocal and flute solo, the music was about percussion.

It was also about dancing, as thirty minutes into the set the dancers took over the dance floor.
Native San Franciscan Santos is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today. Raised in the Puerto Rican and the Cape Verde traditions of his family, he grew up surrounded by music.

This fertile musical environment shaped his career in a unique way.

Santos has worked multi-generational masters such as Dizzy Gillespie, Chucho Valdes, Tito Puente, Max Roach, Eddie Palmieri, Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy, Ed Thigpen Steve Turre, McCoy Tyner and Patato Valdés.

Santos has released many of his albums on his own independent label Machete Records.
As a spiritually conscious being, Santos paid homage through songs to those musicians who have passed on.

“Ancestor respect and community is part of the traditional spirituality base in West Africa,” said Santos.

As an activist, Santos stood in protest outside of this year’s Grammy Awards with other jazz musicians to send a message to Grammy President Neil Portnow and the Grammy Board in demand that they reinstate the 31 Musical Categories eliminated this year.

The categories are mostly black, Latino, Asian and Native American.

“Having a protest as an alternative was our way of showing the Grammy Board that we do not appreciate being left out,” proclaimed Santos.

The show closed with an encore, where the percussion sounds traded solos and jacked up the musical intensity.