INSIDE: Rob Thomas Quartet, Ernestine's New CD Earshot A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Communit Roots: David Friesen at New Jazz, New City New Jazz, New City II at New City Theater October 6 at 8 p.m. Bassist David Friesen is a cornerstone of our Northwest jazz scene. He's thrilled us in live performance with his high energy solos, released a steady streamoffinerecordings (some20now), and introduced us to a fine supporting cast of West Coast musicians, including guitarist John Stowell. ►Continued on Page 2 David Friesen Lunar Adventures at New Jazz, New City October 27 (see Page 3) NJNC Profile Floyd Standifer Octet New Jazz, New City II at New City Theater October 13 at 8 p.m. Floyd Standifer is familiar to Seattle jazz listeners as a tough, clean-lined be-bopper, with roots in the trumpet school following from Fats Navarro through Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and right on up to Freddie Hubbard. But few people know that there is another side to Floyd Standifer-a cooler, more considered composer-who has been sitting on a pile of charts for octet for years now. Standifer performed with the octet once, two years ago at the Bellevue] azzFestival, but the band didn't have enough time to prepare a really strong program. For his New Jazz, New City concert on October 13, the former Quincy Jones trumpet man has brought the band together again-this time they're ready. "Notmany people know it, but I love this kind of stuff," Floyd confided at the New Orleans Restaurant a few nights back. "Whatever you want to call it---cooljazz, chamber jazz-there was a period there when lots of cats were experimenting, writing, trying to get at those voicings with just a few notes. I love that kind of a sound." You know the period-beginning with Claude Thornhill and Miles Davis in the late '40s, then Shorty Rogers and his Giants, the Dave Brubeck Octet, Warne Marsh. A lot of people-particularly critics from the East Coast-maligned this "West Coast'' school for its emphasis on Western classical harmony and counterpoint. But chamber jazz has endured as a lasting facet of jazz, engaging the gamut of practitioners, from avant-gardists like Vinny Golia and Anthony Braxton to ensemble writ► Continued on Page 3 Floyd Standifer Friesen (Cont.) Unlike most musicians of his generation, Friesen is largely self-taught. Born in Tacoma, in 1942, he began picking out melodies on the home piano at age five, then performed in Spokane as a kid on ukelele, guitar and even with a 24-piece accordion band. "I quit that group after coming home from a parade with bruises on both my shoulders," he remembers. Though he graduated from West Seattle High School, Friesen didn't come up through the usual concert band, stage band and private lesson route. "I never did fit into the school music system," he says. "There were too many rules and regulations. The teachers and students had an attitude. I've since learned you need rules to initiate order." This early, seat-of-the-pants folk attitude about music has had an enduring effect on Friesen's individualistic development. For he later crossed his folk background with classical technique and also learned to swing like mad. Friesen's interest in jazz began about 1959. Two recordings-Earl Bostic' s Flamingo and June Christy's Something Cool-stick in his mind from that period. Soon after, the Army diverted the developing bassist to Germany. Friesen used his time on leave to visit jazz clubs on the continent-in Paris, Copenhagen and Italy, where he met Ted Curson and Tete Montoliu. Friesen often worked at The Blue Note in Paris (immortalized in the film 'Round Midnight). The young bassist returned to Seattle in 1964 and began studies with classical bassist Ron Simon. "Joe Brazil gave me a gig at the Penthouse. BothheandJabo Ward helped me out. We played withpianistBobNixon and there were always sessions at Chuck and Joni Metcalf's house. I travelled with (vibist) Elmer Gill for awhile, but there wasn't enough work in Seattle. I moved to a small farmjustoutside of Portland and began playing with pianist Sid Porter six nights a week." THE ACORN LOUNGE Northwest Piano Jazz Wed.-Sat., Deems Tsutakawa through October 200 TAYLOR NORTH SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98109 628-8902 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ,------1hJ-•----- 411:2H'3/lflH~\ 11Jt0'3/~ f- Rompin Stompin Swing Appearing every Tuesday at The Owl. ... 9:30 pm 5140 Ballard Ave 784-3640 Saturday October 1 7 Nippon Kan Theater Saturday November 14 Moore Theater For further information call 789-0934 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 2 In the early '70s, Friesen opened his own coffeehouse in north Portland. Called Selah, the club ran on donations and staged puppet shows and after-hours jams. In the mid-70s, saxophonist Joe Henderson called Friesen to New York to play in a band that included pianist Joanne Brackeen. He went on to perform with Michael White, Ted Dunbar, John Handy and soon found himself back in Europe, with Billy Harper. Harper and Friesen made the first record on the Black Saint label, titled, appropriately, Black Saint. When Inner City Records owner Irv Kratka heard David practicing in his basement apartment one day, Kratka offered Friesen an opportunity to record his own music. Subsequent albums as a leader have emerged on Muse, Palo Alto Jazz and Steeplechase. Friesen loves to record in duet with pianists. His duo credits include Mal Waldron, Denny Zeitlin and Jeannie Hoffman. Friesen's newest recording, Inner Voices, on the Global Pacific label is a new departure for the bassist. He employs synthesizers, digital delays and studio overdubs. Says David of the new record: "I hoped to make an album with fewernotes-an orchestral approach, subdued, but capturing the intensity of my performance style. The new album is slow moving in a way. I've tried to create a tapestry of sounds, but with substance. Because there are so many other LP's with that approach, I'm being included in the Windham Hill school, which I don't think is fair. I haven't held back at all and the new album is in the same spirit. I've put my heart into it the same way as I always do." Friesen enthusiastically describes the trio that will perform with him at the New City Theater: "Phil Dwyer is a 21-year-old, Vancouver B.C. tenor and soprano saxman who plays wonderful piano. He's very original and mature, with a great attitude. Alan Jones is a Berklee graduate who's played with John Abercrombie, David Liebman, Mako to Ozone and Don Thompson. He's got a set of handmade maple drums with a beautiful tone. He plays so openly and freely. The trio's first set is high energy with lots of crashing and banging; the second set is meditative. I feature the Oregon bass in that set." (The Oregon bass is a custom-designed instrument with a break-down neck based on the design of a 16th century viola dagamba.). David Friesen's latest plans call for a new LP with Dwyer, Jones, Denny Zeitlin and Airto. He still plays selected dates with flautist Paul Hom and works with Mal Waldron. While we wait for his new record, be sure to catch his hot trio at the New City Theater, October 6th at 8 p.m. Gary Bannister Earshot Jazz Vol. 3 No.10 ©1987 Earshot Jazz The monthly magazine Earshot Jazz is edited by Paul de Barros. Staff writers: Gary Bannister, Sandra Burlingame, Bruce Kochis, and Paul de Barros. Contributors: Herb Levy, Dale Bundrant, Joseph Murphy, Dale Stirling, Sheba Burney, Glenn Castonguay (art) and Ken Wiley. Calendar editor: Bob Mariano (3649357). Type and page makeup by Carl Diltz. Business Manager, Judy de Barros. Mailing by Adrienne Weaver and Rich Minor. Advertising Manager, Jeff Ferguson (328-6199). Earshot Board of Directors: Lola Pedrini, Gary Bannister, Bruce Kochis, Sandra Burlingame, Judy de Barros, Jeff Ferguson, Paul de Barros, and Mark Solomon Earshot Jazz is a non-profit volunteer service organization formed in 1986 to provide a mirror and focus for the Seattle area jazz community through publishing a monthly magazine, presenting creative music, identifying and filling career needs for jazz musicians, increasing listenership and awareness of jazz, augmenting and complementing existing services and programs and networking with the national jazz community. General Information, (206) 285-8893 NJNC Profile Lunar Adventures New Jazz, New City II at New City Theater October 27 at 8 p.m. When Omette Coleman, Ronald Shannon Jackson and James "Blood" Ulmer started experimenting with electric jazz in the late '70s and came up with their dizzying "harmolodic funk" concept, I was sure that at least one band in Seattle would launch into the same exhilarating groove. But alas, the sweet cacophony of harmolodics never materialized on the shores of the Emerald City. That's one reason New Jazz, New City has ventured across the49th parallel this season, snagging from its usual orbit one of the best bands working the West today-Lunar Adventures. With a name like that, you'd think these guys are strictly from the stratosphere, but while Lunar Adventures can definitely play far-out, moonstruck stuff, this band is also one of the most accessible, delightful and well-thought-out units working the area. The group was formed in 1985 in Vancouver, B.C., and, according to bassist Clyde Reed, has been rehearsing twice a week for two years, writing and working up new material. They have produced one tape for sale, Full Moon, well worth the price. Recently voted Best Jazz Performers of the Year by the Canadian Association of Recording Artists, Lunar Adventures consists of bassist Reed; drummer Gregg Simpson; tenor saxophonist Coat Cooke; and electric guitarist Ron Samworth. All of these musicians have worked together over the years in various configurations, but Simpson and Reed may be familiar to some Seattleites from their work with The Vancouver Art Trio and the New Orchestra Workshop. Simpson was the drummer in the Al Neil trio, and he and Reed also worked together in 1974-75 with the Sunship Ensemble, which recorded the album, Pacific Rim for CBC. Simpson and Vancouver pianist Paul Plirnley performed in Seattle a couple of years ago at the New Melody Tavern at the invitation of Al Hood. That is not the only connection Lunar Adventures has to Washington. Bassist Reed is actually a native of the "other'' Vancouver, studied in the '60s with Jerry Gray at Comish and with Ron Simon of the Seattle Symphony and got a Ph.D. from the U. W. in 1972-in economics, which Reed teaches at Simon Fraser University when he's not performing with Lunar Adventures. The other two members of the lunar module come from a younger generation ofVancouvermusicians. Coat Cooke, 34, has worked with the Paul Plirnley Octet up at the Edmonton Jazz Festival and wrote the tune the band took for its name. Guitarist Ron Samworth, 26, has worked in adventurous Vancouver rock bands like Neophyte, as well as with Jazzoids and Chief Feature. What do these guys sound like? Well, sometimes they get that edgy, electric, double-meter craziness of Omette's Prime Time. Other times, Simpson delves into his Celtic heritage, blowing up a modal Highland storm. At still others, a calypso beat sidles into their work. There is also a good deal of non-pretentious, good-natured theater to the Lunar show. The time I saw them at Vancouver's Railway Club, there was a television monitor behind the band playing somebody's home videos. Simpson also played an amazing improvised noise solo on his drum machine. That should give an idea, eh? See you there. Paul de Barros Standifer (Cont. from Page 1) ers like ourown Northwest composers Jim Knapp and Chuck Israels. The rewards of chamber jazz are manifold: when you hear a classic be-bop quartet or quintet-the kind Floyd plays with at Patti Summers on Tuesday nights or at the New Orleans Restaurant on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays-you get burning swing, and long, story-telling solos. With a jazz octet you get something entirely different. For starters, with more instruments to work with---or "voices," as musicians call them-you have a situation where the whole often equals more than the sum of its parts. Matching up different instruments on different notes in a chord ("voicing" and "orchestration") can yield unusually large and rich blends. In addition to blend, a larger band can put two melodies in motion at the same time (counterpoint, or "contrary motion"). And, of course, a large ensemble can punch a phrase with the kind of power that a quartet just doesn't have. Look for all of these special ensemble qualities in Floyd's octet performance Tuesday night, as well as for strong solos by some of the area's finest: Buddy Catlett (bass); Marc Seales (keyboards); Bill Ramsey (tenor saxophone); Jim Coil (alto saxophone); Dan Greenblatt (tenor saxophone); and Floyd himself on trumpet and flugelhom, with a trombone player and.drummer yet to be determined at this writing. "We'll be presenting the pieces as a kind of suite," says Floyd, "kind of the way Abdullah Ibrahim did when he was here. I liked that approach. Someofit'sgoingto be abrasive and far-out, too," Standifer adds. "We're going to include some free improv. This isn't going to be vanilla." As if we thought it would be. PauldeBarros zz RECORDS