Newcomers Welcome: Steph Richards Debuts in the Valley

After more than 30 years of producing creative music, it’s rare for me to host a concert where I’ve never met any of the performers. But that’s what happened on Tuesday, Oct. 12th when Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares gathered again at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen.

Trumpeter Steph Richards led her band Supersense: James Carney, piano, Brandon Lopez, bass and Max Jaffe, drums, in a 60-minute immersion into a very personal sound world. I had poor answers to pre-concert questions about the music. I had never seen any of them perform and knew them only by name and reputation. What an opportunity then, for me to expand my musical universe.

Although there were long-standing connections between individual band members, this foursome had never worked together. In a music that emphasizes improvisation, that’s not as daunting a prospect as it seems. It also helps to have four nimble musical thinkers with chops. I suspect that as the tour continued on to Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Ottawa, the band grew into an even deeper understanding of Richard’s vision.

Richards is one of the rising stars of the trumpet with a big vision for what is possible. For this concert, she collaborated with flavor and fragrance artist Sean Raspert, who created scratch and sniff cards that corresponded to the compositions. Richards also screened abstract video by Vipal Monga that played above the heads of the quartet during the first part of the performance.

Beyond engagement with our other senses, the musicians wove a tapestry of sound around loose themes provided by Richards. Despite Lopez’ muscular pulse, the band leisurely explored nuggets of melody with an open-ended mindset. Richards’ tone was gorgeous and full-bodied, with flecks of bravado and vulnerability in equal measure.

Carney seemed to hold back, only occasionally asserting himself within the group. His shining moments came during a couple of passages when he had the stage to himself. I heard shades of Jarrett and Debussy in his approach, and the understated beauty of his solos served as a wonderful respite to the evening’s general busyness. Over a meal, Carney regaled us with stories of an afternoon spent with Wayne Shorter in 1999 when he won the Thelonious Monk Institute Competition in composition, as well as tales from his career as a high-end piano technician.

I’d been hearing about Brandon Lopez for a number of years. He’s a New Yorker, barely in his mid-30s, who was nurtured by William and Patricia Parker and grew up in the Arts for Art family. I love this line from his bio: “His music has been praised as ‘brutal’ (Chicago Reader) and ‘relentless’ (The New York Times).” He playing wasrelentless, emphatic and physical, as well as quite musical. Small of stature, Lopez’ kinetic approach to the bass reminded my wife, Priscilla Page, of Joe Fonda, an apt comparison.

Max Jaffe, a member of vocalist Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones and a collaborator with Jessica Pavone and Peter Evans, received his Masters from CalArts last year. Richards and Carney also have degrees from this venerated hotbed of innovation. They laughed about the irony that the school’s two most important benefactors are Walt Disney and Herb Alpert. Jaffe is a strong player with just the right amount of off-beat to make things interesting. He has devoted a lot of his recent energy into combining drumming with various digital technologies. Hopefully we’ll get to hear that side of his talent soon.

I’m so thankful I got to meet and share the music of Steph Richards, James Carney, Brandon Lopez and Max Jaffe, four creative souls who I now know. Connecting the dots, making the connections, expanding the known universe through music and love, that’s what motivates me. “Peace and rhythm,” as my friends Andujar and DJ Bongohead put it. I feel grateful every day that I am in a position to facilitate rich exchanges of music and fellowship between artists and my friends and neighbors.

The Mary LaRose Ensemble Does Dolphy

Brooklyn Dodger manager Leo Durocher famously hypothesized that “Nice guys finish last.” Well, at least in the jazz world I inhabit, the opposite is true. Vocalist Mary LaRose and clarinetist Jeff Lederer are two of the nicest, most creative people I know. They top my list of life-affirming artists.

The two – partners on and off the bandstand – led a quintet on Saturday, October 9thin support of LaRose’s new release, Out Here-The Music of Eric Dolphy, at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen. They were joined by vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Matt Wilson in the second concert of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares’ 10th season.

LaRose, who was born and raised and still lives in Brooklyn, wrote lyrics to tunes associated with the great reedman Eric Dolphy. Her lyrics were simple and sly. In 245, named for Dolphy’s Brooklyn residence, she sings: “And if the walls could talk at 245/what a story they would tell/so much music found its way here/conversations improvised there/music flowing free/Carlton was the place to be/and if I could have been that fly on the wall spying at 245/oh how much pleasure that would bring me/have that music going through me/it was so alive what was at 245.” And later in the song, she brings us back to today’s reality: “Now streets are paved with gold here and money talks/now Fort Greene is gentrified/and million-dollar condos rule there/priceless music filled the air here/but money can’t compete with what did happen on that street/on that street/245 Carlton Ave.”

LaRose was an unassuming muse, and happily shared the spotlight with her ensemble. This was not an evening of vocals and accompaniment; her voice occupied equal status with the rest of her band, and she shared with them a rhythmic suppleness and ease of delivery that won over the 70 listeners in IMA’s homey barn. Over the course of the concert, LaRose smartly incorporated short duo passages with each of her fellow musicians, allowing her to showcase her instrument. To my ears, Sheila Jordan serves as a reference point. Both are storytellers at heart and fearless improvisers with spot on intonation. As Jordan followed her lodestar, Charlie Parker, LaRose is hitched to Eric Dolphy.

Lederer, who eschewed his tenor sax for the clarinet and bass clarinet, wrote the arrangements for compositions recorded by Dolphy on landmark records of the early 1960s. (Dolphy’s passing at age 36 in 1964, remains a major jazz tragedy.) None of these tunes have entered the standard repertoire, but for those of us who grew up listening to Far Cry and Out to Lunch! and absorbing Dolphy’s massive contribution to the music of Mal Waldron, Charles Mingus, Booker Little, Oliver Nelson and John Coltrane, the melodies were recognized instantly.

The rhythm section was superb. It is always welcome to hear friends and established masters like Matt Wilson and Michael Formanek, but hearing a consequential newcomer like Patricia Brennancertainly provides a special jolt. Brennan grew up in Mexico playing Latin percussion and European classical music, and has since broadened her horizons considerably, playing with Matt Mitchell, Meredith Monk, John Hollenbeck and Mary Halvorson, with whom she just recorded. In fact, Brennan’s array of delays and bent notes, made possible with pedals and other gizmos, reminded me of the effects Halvorson achieves on guitar. She used four-mallets to rip off complex syncopated lines and string bows to conjure worlds of billowy electronic sounds.

Lederer reminded us that Dolphy’s parents were from Panama, then launched into “Music Matador,” featuring a deep Latin groove that supported a joyous melody. LaRose turned “GW,” which Dolphy wrote in tribute to Gerald Wilson, into a withering indictment of Chris Christie’s shameful political stunt to create traffic on the George Washington Bridge to hurt a Democrat.

The Jazz Shares concert, and one the previous evening at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, not only served as a CD release event, but a book launch, too. Last year, Priscilla Page and I commissioned Mary to contribute to an online project honoring Dr. Yusef Lateef on the centenary of his birth. The five portraits she produced of Brother Yusef spurred a pandemic-fueled flurry of work, depicting other saxophone masters of the 1960s. The result is “Out There,” a beautiful series of portraits using pastels on black paper.

On both sides of the bandstand there was genuine appreciation that the feedback loop, long interrupted by the pandemic, had been reestablished. I thought about the human connection that lies at the heart of this music, and remembered our first encounter with Jeff and Mary, a 2012 Magic Triangle Series concert featuring Shakers ‘n Bakers. That project, a deep dive into the praise songs of Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers, took place at the Unitarian Meeting House in Northampton. The concert included audience members ascending to the pulpit to read or sing phrases taken from Shaker “gift” songs while the band (Miles Griffith, Jamie Saft, Chris Lightcap, Allison Miller and Jeff and Mary) riffed behind them. That cherished memory cemented my admiration for the people-powered music making of Mary LaRose and Jeff Lederer. Two first-place nice guys.

Despite All Odds: Christoph Irniger Quartet Begins Jazz Shares Season 10

The jazz life is not an easy life. Precarious financials, dwindling performance opportunities, record industry collapse, and a jazz-illiterate American public all mean that today’s jazz musician must have steel–reinforced resolve. And that’s before COVID-19 was added to the list of obstacles.

Despite these long odds, Christoph Irniger made the trek from Europe to perform five gigs in the U.S., concluding in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, as Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares began its 10th season of concerts. The Swiss tenor saxophonist was joined by fellow countryman Raffaele Bossard on bass, along with alto saxophonist Michaël Attias, and drummer Ziv Ravitz, two well-travelled, Israeli-born musicians, who have lived all over the world.

Iringer’s compositions, which filled the 75-minute set, were full of memorable lines. Melody matters to Irniger and his pieces were full of compelling shapes that moved in multiple directions. “First time I heard Christoph Irniger’s ‘Air’ I thought, ah, that’s a nice tune,” wrote Kevin Whitehead. “The second time, it was like I’d been hearing it all my life – his best melodies have that sort of insinuating quality.” The band performed twice in Zürich, where he lives and teaches, before embarking to the States, giving the Quartet ample time to live inside the music. The results were fantastic.

Irniger, Bossard and Ravitz have been working together as a trio for over a decade.Their two recordings: Gowanus Canal (2012, Intakt Records) and Octopus (2014, Intakt Records) demonstrates their deep rapport. The concert pulled from these recordings as well as a 2020 Intakt release, Open City, where the trio was joined by alto saxophonist Loren Stillman. When Stillman could not make the tour, Irniger asked the veteran alto saxophonist Michaël Attias to join the band.

The 45 masked, fully–vaccinated patrons who spread out comfortably at the Shea Theater were treated to a well-paced program of music that wasboth soothing and provocative. The music existed mostly in mid-tempo, with the horns operating largely in the middle registers. But there was nothing middle of the road about it. The colors and tonal range were distinctive and its emotional relevance was ever present.

Irniger brought his quintet, Pilgrim, for a 2019 Jazz Shares concert in Springfield, with Bossard the only holdover. Although the instrumentation was different (the earlier band included piano and guitar), Irniger’s tone, with its smooth, Getz-like quality was the same, as was his compositional playbook, which remained full of hummable lines and inviting harmonies.

Attias, the elder statesman at 53, was a joy to hear. His last trip to the Valley was a 2018 visit with Angelica Sanchez’ Nonet, and he has lost none of his commanding fluency and bite. His solos closely explored each composition, probing nooks and crannies for new insights. When the two horns locked, their embroidered counterpoint had a sense of inevitability. When bass and drums dropped out, the sound of the two saxophones sung purely and reached the rafters.

Ravitz was a revelation. It’s always a thrill to see a player for the first time, and his pattered fills and his use of a small, crash cymbal full of holes gave the ensemble a kinetic energy that added drama throughout the evening. His familiarity with the material let him anticipate every twist and turn, allowing him to sail along, animating and accenting.

Bossard possesses a fat, rounded tone that just felt good. His bond with his rhythm mate was palpable and his multiple solos were short, to the point and provided palate–cleansing respite. He deftly handled all the administrative details for the tour, and that skill translated to the bandstand, where he kept things on time and in line.

Over a post-concert drink (alas, the pandemic has put the kibosh on our usual Jazz Shares reception), Ravitz told us of approaching the mayor of the small city south of Paris where he now lives. New to town, he had a vision of a three-day jazz festival. His cold-call was met with great enthusiasm. What did Ravitz need from the city? They would write grants, provide resources, and support the idea however they could. As someone who had lived in the U.S. for a long time, the drummer was dumbfounded. For artists and presenters in the States, such a scenario is pure fantasy. In this land, the marketplace rules, and artists and presenters are left to their own devices. No wonder folks always ask if jazz is dead. Traveling uphill makes you weary. That musicians still cross oceans to make the effort to scratch out a creative life is inspiring, indeed.