Jayn Pettingill

Mr. Rollins

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:40:58 -0400

If any musician could be said to be God-like, it is Sonny Rollins. Almost mythical in some ways, he is still, at 80+, a Prometheus-like figure in the Jazz world.

I have met three people who have met the man and each of them were told the same thing: “It is very important that this music is kept alive—keep playing it—you’re doing very important work.” Two of the people are musicians, saxophonists to be exact and one is the radio announcer, Bob Parlocha. Bob told me that Rollins called him at the studio one night to thank him for playing his records and to tell him what important work he’s doing by presenting the music to people. He said it was an unforgettable phone call.

This was recorded using my smartphone, so audio quality is...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:36:00 -0400

This was recorded using my smartphone, so audio quality is ok-ish, but not great. I recorded this piece spontaneously after learning that a bandmate from Pele Juju had passed away. It’s funny because I realized later that I was playing in a key and in a rhythmic way that was our “thing.” This is for Brindle.

Blues for NMR is a blurry blues in hurry.

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:49:20 -0400

Blues for NMR is a blurry blues in hurry.

Cinder Block presents, as a cinder block would, challenges and...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:48:45 -0400

Cinder Block presents, as a cinder block would, challenges and they’re not pretty…

“Shoe” waits for the other shoe to drop.

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:47:51 -0400

“Shoe” waits for the other shoe to drop.

Visitacion Valley was written for my parents. A small valley in...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:47:17 -0400

Visitacion Valley was written for my parents. A small valley in San Francisco’s South East, Visitacion Valley is bordered by Butcher Town to the North and Candlestick Cove to its East.

Posting the Verb tunes

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:31:46 -0400

These recordings have been a long time coming. Like any musician or composer, I would have liked to have had more “time,” more reflection, and more calmness of mind whilst recording these things. Listening to them from the distance which time provides, has been revealing. I was just learning how to play a “new” alto (a 1948 SBA Selmer as opposed to my trusty MK VI); I was experimenting with dissonance and resolution and trying for open yet structured solo forms. I was trying to “open” my alto sound and just make it as messy or blurry as possible. And so on…So who knows, only you dear listener, can tell if I was successful or not.

The opportunity to work things out musically with a steady group has, so far, eluded me; I hope that I can change my musical fortune in this regard. While these pieces are not perfect, I do believe they have “something.” As I progress and move forward with all things musical, it was important to me to simply release them into the wilds of the internet.

The musicians who played and gave their attentions to these brief sonic gestures are made of stoic and noble stuff: Vijay Anderson is a force of rhythm and precision and yet is a “loose” as they come; Lisa Mezzacappa on bass just lays it down and has a great big beautiful sound, she’s fearless and musical all at the same time. Rob Ewing is a super sensitive and bold trombonist, he totally delivers whatever the style. I am very grateful for their talents and expertise.

Music is a process. I certainly have a very high regard for those who are in that process day in and out. There are too many heroes to mention here, but yes, the Bay Area is rich in musicians who fight the good fight every day. Honing my voice and participating more in this chorus is certainly a goal of mine—2013 I hope will yield some significant progress in this direction.

Next up will be more Kaijuscope music. I hope to do a proper recording in the next month or so.

Carmen McRae and "Live at Sugar Hill"

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:23:00 -0400

“Carmen occupies a place in the hearts of jazz musicians that is a very special place, and its special quality means no criticism of the other great singers of her time but only that Carmen is very, very special. If Ella Fitzgerald will forgive me, I’d like to quote MiIes Davis on the subject because it sums up the way they feel, the way we all feel. Miles was looking up at a billboard in San Francisco one night which announced Ella was playing at the Fairmont’s Venetian Room and it called her “The Queen of Jazz.” Miles grunted and then growled, “If Ella Fitzgerald is the Queen of jazz, what the fuck is Carmen?”
“Carmen McRae” from Celebrating the Duke, and Louis, Bessie, Bird, Carmen, Miles Dizzy and Other Heroes by Ralph Gleason (Da Capo Press, New York. 1995)

As Miles Davis asks, What indeed, is Carmen? A listen to Carmen McRae’s “Live at Sugar Hill” will inform anyone with a good pair of ears of the great magic and artistry that Miss McRae possessed and will make said listener wonder why this vocalist is never placed higher on the list of Jazz Royalty. This recording serves two purposes: it underscores McRae’s rightful place in the pantheon of Jazz royalty and decades later, it continues to bear witness to the sublime and powerful form that a live jazz performance can be.

McRae presents herself, on this album and others, as both vulnerable and as a woman that one dare not cross. The audiences who attended her performances were made very aware of any transgression they made, either by a piercing glance or a salty remark. One story tells of a hapless woman who was talking during one of McRae’s songs. In the middle of the piece, without missing a beat, McRae said, “Either you’re coming up here and I’m gonna go down there or you’re gonna let me sing this song.” It is hard to imagine the Divine One or Ella speaking in such a way to an audience member, but royalty, after all, does come in all shapes, sizes and manner. And perhaps this underscores her uniqueness, McRae held court wherever she performed, whether it was a prestigious venue or a club that had seen better days with only one in the audience.

”Live at Sugar Hill” is an album that really ought to be in any listener’s collection. McRae had long been paying her dues by singing in nightclubs and other more high profile venues. She also had a healthy corpus of her own recordings in distribution. The majority of these were studio recordings. Much of the material done on those records, according to her longtime pianist, Norman Simmons, was chosen for her by a producer and often handed to her right before she stepped in front of the microphone. “Live at Sugar Hill” is all McRae’s choice of material and what we witness is an artist of the highest order coming into her own.

An heir to Lady Day’s legacy, McRae demonstrates her link to Holiday with the opening song, “Sunday.” With some gravel in her voice and a vibrato that appears mostly at the end of phrases, these stylings immediately remind one of her mentor, the great Billie Holiday. But McRae takes these mannerisms further and gives firm proof to the stories of her making the scene with Monk and others at Minton’s when Be-bop was being fashioned: she interlaces scatting with the lyrics and eventually moves into a full on improvised solo—much as a jazz horn player would approach a tune. The lines that she creates are straight out of Be-bop 101 and yet, are completely personalized. McRae does not recite rote licks or patterns, she weaves, ducks and spars, like a prize fighter with the rhythm section, showing her mastery over this very challenging vernacular.

Listen carefully and hear a motif she effortlessly creates as she gets into her solo on “Sunday.” With an interval of a whole step, she playfully moves this sequence downward in perfect fifths at the end of the first A section. McRae, much like a horn player,then blurs the boundaries of the song form and mutates this sequence into yet another phrase, ending it a few bars into the second A section. Instrumentalists like Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown or Dizzy Gillespie for example, often will “play through” the ends of phrases, bleeding over into the next section. This is not a technique for the timid and McRae sounds anything but timid on this recording.

Showcasing a range of tempos and indeed, the different ranges that she can shift her voice into, provide us with a full resume of McRae’s experience and artistry as a vocalist. “A Foggy Day” is taken at a tempo that would make many instrumentalists blanche. Yet McRae glides through it with aplomb, not exactly sad about the British Museum having lost its charm but simply reporting on the situation. If the up tempo tunes don’t kill you with wonderment then her ballad singing will: “It Never Entered My Mind,” is a poignant ballad that McRae delivers ever so simply and yet the sculpting of her words makes one realize the multiple layers of irony present in seemingly simple combinations of consonants and vowels.

It is my belief that no other studio album that McRae had recorded up to this time can even come close to “Live at Sugar Hill.” There is a particular kind of intimacy present here that her studio albums do not achieve. Perhaps having cut her teeth in clubs, McRae simply thrived on performing in front of a live audience. McRae, having watched and studied an intensely personal performer such as Billie Holiday, was most likely in her element. That’s what jazz was all about anyway, wasn’t it? Sharing stories, sad and tall, with folks who came out to hear and to experience such moments. McRae, as is evidenced by the album, would have made Holiday proud.

So back to the original question: What is Carmen McRae? If one takes the titles of “King” and “Queen” to be nothing more than job titles, a description of someone’s duties and responsibilities, then there could have been several “Queens of Jazz” operating at the same time and within neighboring domains, so to speak. Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae each deserve the title and each more than ably fulfill the duties and responsibilities. Listen to “Live at Sugar Hill” and you’ll immediately hear that royalty was indeed in the club that night in 1963.

( From a record review I did about 5 years ago…JP)

A New Year...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:47:48 -0500

I had some great gigs in 2012 with some wonderful musicians and feel very inspired for this New Year and what it may hold. Kaijuscope is on my mind a lot as is being a better clarinetist! My challenge is to stay focused on the tasks and satisfied with the small steps of “getting there.” Paying attention to the details and enjoying the surprises they can yield.

Working with Bob Parlocha’s collection continues to inspire and surprise. There is simply too much great music out there—who knew? Well, I didn’t and part of this New Year will be spent ramping up my listening time significantly. I think I gave up on listening to Jazz a long time ago and I’m not sure why. This is my preferred music, the music that made me want to play a saxophone and spend hours (and hours) practicing. It’s strange thinking about how little I listen. Or more to the point, I do listen but in a very targeted manner, trying to glean nuance or harmonic language from a particular player.

Being around Bob in his studio while he’s doing his show has been, well, quite special. I’m listening. I ask him “Who was that?” and he looks up, with a smile and says something like, “that band swings its a** off doesn’t it?” I am in love with listening again, just hearing what a player is up to or about. I want to hear the discussion, hear the evolution, hear the joy and even the confusion that some player’s are working out. Jazz is that; it’s stories and thoughts and moments, great or not so great. To not listen has been to not see the whole picture or be in touch with what this music is about…

My salute for 2013 is “To Listening.”

A Living, Working, Audio Collection

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:32:25 -0500

A recent project that I have begun work on, is the organization of Jazz radio great Bob Parlocha’s audio collection. Some may remember Bob from his KJAZ (92.7 FM) days. “Dinner Jazz” was his creation and his voice and music in the evening kept many heads level and mellow after a day of work.

Bob is now heard on 240 radio stations across the country and internationally. One of the most hard working DJs in the industry, he logs about 24 hours a week behind the board, spinning the music in “real time” and with no predetermined list. He is also a beautiful tenor player. As a result, he brings a jazz aesthetic of being in the moment and playing what you hear to the radio.

Bob approached me about organizing his vast cd and vinyl collection about a month ago. At present it is all in alphabetical order. But wanting to be able to summon up various players quickly—meaning they may have been a side-man on a recording and not have been a leader of a date—he needs things to be digitized and searchable for ease of access.

So, here I go—employing my library science degree in the service of Jazz radio—I couldn’t have found a better project and greater guy to work for. His stories are killer and well, the lunches he makes are out of this world! But back to work and the music—I can’t disturb the collection too much since he uses it daily but just enough to get the metadata and start creating a relational database.

bbook: iznogoodgood: Kurosawa and Fellini Probably time to...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:11:33 -0500

bbook:

iznogoodgood:

Kurosawa and Fellini

Probably time to bring back Auteurs Broing Out.

Wow— if couches could talk!

Buy a Kaijuscope t-shirt! Designed by Michele Graffieti!...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:14:15 -0400

Buy a Kaijuscope t-shirt! Designed by Michele Graffieti! They’re beautiful!

Michele working on his panorama at our final rehearsal for...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:08:51 -0400

Michele working on his panorama at our final rehearsal for Kaijuscope.

Monstrously Busy!

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:02:21 -0400

A lot has happened since June! I spent most of the summer in intensive listening mode for the Kaijuscope Project. This meant spending hours everyday with the music of Akira Ifukube and re-imagining it for—what turned out to be—a twelve piece ensemble.

As many know, Mr. Ifukube was the composer for most of the “Godzilla” film’s soundtracks. In collaboration with a graphic designer in Milan, we came to create a dialogue, both visually and musically. Michele Graffieti arrived in late August from Italy and we began working toward our goals. Mine was to use fragments or gestures from the original scores, selecting themes that I found provocative and “mashing” them up with other materials. I ended up composing things to create bridges between segments and or to comment on a motif I had extracted.

Michele created a gorgeous visual panorama—mysterious and yet familiar. From dawn to dusk we witness the rise and fall of progress in the world—things are still and then things begin to happen…mysterious monstrous things!

All in all it has been an incredible process and one that we are hoping to repeat again in the near future. I learned that I am only able to focus on one thing at a time—practicing and playing out were not even close to being on the table these past couple of months. I am now getting back into playing.

The musicians that played in Kaijuscope were amazing, some of the best in the area.

Please check out the website for more information on the project and stay tuned!

www.kaijuscope.com

I saw this comic on Sparkle Pony’s blog. He collects old...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:41:00 -0400

I saw this comic on Sparkle Pony’s blog. He collects old cartoons; I’ve really been enjoying his collection that he posts from time to time. This is by Paul Fung and appeared in the San Francisco Call in 1930. As someone who plays the above pictured instrument, I can totally relate! Some days you just fell, “ehhh let’s just put this thing away!”

Apps Are Where It's At!

Sun, 20 May 2012 16:35:17 -0400

I’m late to the party I’m sure, but am just loving “discovering” new apps for music and other pursuits. I just found a great piano app for the iPhone which I’m using to help my composing work for the KaijuScope project. And a drum app. It’s wonderful to be able to work in the backyard, soaking up the rays, while working on music.

Top of the Mark!

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:57:16 -0400

Just got a last minute gig at the Mark Hopkins—or “Top of the Mark.” I’ll be playing with Mike Young’s swing band Mood Swing. He has a wonderful book of charts; most are from the era, not arrangements or approximations of those great swing tunes. Also appearing with us will be the wonderful vocalist Connie Champagne. If you haven’t heard her, you’re missing out!

So what’s not to like? Great band, great singer and amazing views of San Francisco! Please come by and enjoy all of it. We’ll be there swinging away from 8:45 until 12:30 a.m. Hope to see you there!

Fascinating article on Nazi control of improvised music during WW II

Sat, 05 May 2012 01:21:00 -0400

Fascinating article on Nazi control of improvised music during WW II

So, you want to write a fugue? Glenn Gould left us too...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:58:00 -0400

So, you want to write a fugue? Glenn Gould left us too soon…

What an era. It seems like minidiscs have also gone the way of 8...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:22:00 -0400

What an era. It seems like minidiscs have also gone the way of 8 track tapes.