Jazz has become a global language. In Jazz With an Accent ®, we explore the many ways musicians around the world have reimagined their traditions with the tools, strategies, and history of jazz.
Tonight, we’ll sample global electric fusion with an accent on English fusion. We’ll start with “My Heart Declares A Holiday,” a track by drummer Bill Bruford’s Earthworks. Many of us knew Bruford for his work powering art-rock bans like Yes and King Crimson or artists such as fusion wizard Allan Holdsworth, but it turns out he was a jazz player at heart — and a pretty good scout of talent to boot.
This first edition of Earthworks features pianist and brass player Django Bates and saxophonist Iain Ballamy, both intrepid composers and bandleaders in their own right (more about them later).
We’ll follow this with “Atavachron,” a tip of the hat to the underrated Holdsworth, and “Jaytee,” a track by one of Bates’ early projects, the band Human Chain. The group had a rolling lineup, but for Cashin’In, their first album, Human Chain was a trio comprising Bates and drummer Steve Arguelles, the core of the project, and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Hall.
Bill Bruford, right, with Django Bates and Iain Ballamy. © Copyright Bill Bruford and Bill Bruford Productions Ltd. (No photographer credit provided)
And we’ll close the first half of tonight’s show with a blend of British, African, and Caribbean accents. We’ll hear “Bliss-Off,” by saxophonist Iain Ballamy from his album Acme; and then, call it a slight left turn, “No Way Out” from the brilliant Trinidadian steel pan master Othello Molineaux’s debut album It’s About Time. Molineaux began his career as a pianist but, according to his biography on seetobago.com, by age 15 he learned to tune pans, the national musical instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, and led his own steel band. He moved to Miami in 1971, where he met Jaco Pastorius. Their music partnership was documented on almost all of Pastorius’ recordings, as well as a featured role on Word of Mouth, Pastorius’ big band.
The second half features two exceptional Italian trumpeters, Enrico Rava, a historic figure in Italian jazz, and Paolo Fresu, a restless innovator.
Rava has an extraordinarily diverse career that includes film soundtracks, hardbop, and turns in the avant-garde (among many collaborations he was part of Carla Bley’s Jazz Composers’ Orchestra’s Escalator Over the Hill), collaborations with South African musicians, and tributes to Miles, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and the music of Michael Jackson. Tonight, you’ll hear a sampling of his beautiful tone and lyricisms in “Dr. Ra and Mr. Va,” from his album The Plot, featuring guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer Jon Christensen.
We have heard, and no doubt, we’ll hear more of, Paolo Fresu in broadly varied settings. He has evoked the sound and approach of 1950s Miles Davis, has been part of contemporary classical and folk music explorations, and collaborated with artists as disparate as Omar Sosa and Nguyen Le.
Tonight, we’ll hear his take on “Satisfaction” (yes, that one, the Stones’ early hit) from Desertico, with his electric quintet.
And we’ll complete the show circling back to Bruford’s Earthworks and British jazz. These are two beautiful ballads by saxophonist Iain Ballamy, “It Needn’t End In Tears,” a track from Earthwork’s self-titled debut album, and the title track from his album All Men Amen.
There’s a world of jazz to discover, but there is not enough time to talk and play the music I’d like to share with you — and I prefer you hear the music, not me. If you want more information about the music and the artists you heard or missed in the program, check this blog, Jazz With an Accent.com or WDNA.org.
And if you’d like to reach me, please write to me at fernando@jazzwithanaccent.com
For now, join us Thursday at 7 p.m. EST at
Thank you for listening.
Playlist
- Bill Bruford’s Earthworks My Heart Declares A Holiday
- Alan Holdsworth Atavachron
- The Human Chain Jaytee
- Iain Ballamy Bliss-Off
- Othello Molineaux No Way Out
- Paolo Fresu Devil Quartet [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction
- Enrico Rava Dr. Ra And Mr. Va
- Bill Bruford’s Earthworks It Needn’t End In Tears
- Iain Ballamy All Men Amen
Jazz With an Accent 