Dayna Stephens Gratitude

Dayna Stephens
Gratitude
Contagious Music

The title of saxophonist Dayna Stephens latest album (his eighth as a leader) refers to the warmth, love, peace and strong connections he has shared with friends, family and fellow musicians, as he climbed his way back to health after fighting Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSG), a rare kidney disease. As he states "after receiving so much love and support from so many people in my life, I am saturated with immense gratitude, perhaps completing a circle that started with those ingredients. This collection of songs serves as an expression of that deep-seated gratitude." He is heard on tenor & baritone saxophones, EWI, synthesizer, and bass on one track, and joined by a stellar band of Brad Mehldau (piano, tack piano ), Julian Lage (guitar), Larry Grenadier (bass) and Eric Harland (drums & cymbals).

Among the uniting factors of the music on this album is "that they all have to my ear enchanting, beautiful singable melodies," and starts with the lovely "Emilie" by Olivier Manchon and it introduces us to the warmth of  Stephens' sensuous tone on a gem of a performance that also features Medldau's piano with a long section when they are playfully trading fours. Aaron Parks' ballad "In a Garden," has Lage guitar providing harmony under Stephens with Grenadier takes a solo before Stephens wonderfully constructed solo that builds up with Lage's assistance and electronics adding to the atmosphere. Lage's "Woodside Waltz," has a playful figure at its core and with Lage's guitar as well as Stephens own playing has a rootsy appeal (similar to some of John Scofield's recent recordings). Stephens contributed "The Timbre of Gratitude," with Lage takes the first solo before Stephens enters. Then there is a sublime rendition of Billy Strayhorn's ballad "Isfahan," with just Lage backing him.

While not a perfect analogy, as his musical approach is rooted more in today's contemporary approach, but Stephens reminds this writer of the great Ben Webster with his attention to his tone and every note plays seems thoughtfully considered. This is so even when  playing horn lines on an electronic instrument as on Rebecca Martin's "Don't Mean a Thing at All," with a pleasing Mehldau solo as well. Besides the wonderful playing of Stephens, Mehldau and Lage, one cannot forget the significant contributions of Grenadier's bass and Harland's drums, along with the leader's judicious employment of electronics. This all contributes to the beauty, warmth and lyrical qualities that infuse the performances of this wonderful recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the May-June 2017 (Jazz & Blues Reprt (Issue 372) although I have made some corrections and clarifying changes. Here is a video of Dayna  Stephens performing.

"People Think That When White People Scream That’s It's Soul"

I am in the middle of reading John Einarson’s Forever Changes: Arthur Lee and the Book of Love (Jawbone Press), which details the rise and fall of the pioneering Los Angeles band and its charismatic leader. In the book, Lee recalls his first appearance at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. The opening act was Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding company and Lee was not overwhelmed by her singing.


“We headlined at the Fillmore and I remember I had to stand and listen to Janis Joplin scream. She was the great white hope for the blues, but all she did was scream. You see, people think that when white people scream that’s it’s soul. But that isn’t soul, it’s just screaming. I remember being in Washington, D.C. once, and the security guard asked me, when i walked on stage, “Hey Arthur, you gonna go up there and do some more screamin’?” Man, that really hit my heart and I haven’t written a screaming song since.”


I have about 2/3rd of this to still read, and up next after it is Phillip Radcliffe’s recently published biography of Mississippi john Hurt. (Both are purchases).


Oh here is another quote from pianist Brad Mehldau (from the Ottawa Citizen’s website) discussing non jazz acts at Jazz Festivals such as they hold in Ottawa. He recognizes the economic reality but he also mentions one aspect of what might be called other genres trading on jazz.

Brad Mehldau's most recent solo recording.

“The ill will starts when people trade on the term “jazz.” When I started doing the festival circuit, around 1990, I noticed that each year there would be a different genre to appear -- you’d have acid jazz, Klezmer music, DJs, etc. Not to belittle or question the validity that surrounds these kinds of music, but merely to show what I mean by trading on jazz, I’ve observed a common byline in the media that surrounds these different genres. It’s like “This is the new music that’s going to release us from a narrow definition of jazz.” The implication is that jazz isn’t hip enough in its own right, that it needs fresh blood, and aren’t we the listeners lucky that we’re going to get pulled out of the cobwebs? But this sentiment is full of bad faith. Why is this music appearing on a jazz festival then, when the whole subtext is that it’s too hip for jazz? In fact you could argue that often it’s the opposite case -- often musicians trade on the allure of jazz as a term to get over, simultaneously thumbing their nose at jazz. That’s a drag.


The full quote can be found at http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/jazzblog/archive/2011/06/22/brad-mehldau-on-non-jazz-at-jazz-festivals.aspx


I can find parallels with what he says with a lot of the so-called new blues, that I might suggest is similarly trading on blues as a genre. Artists playing music that twenty years ago would have been labelled rock without controversy is supposedly going to expand the blues audience, but bring an audience that will pretty much ignore “traditional blues.” 


I have a lot of respect for Ray Manzarek’s work with the Doors and Roy Rogers work with the late John lee Hooker and his own blues-rock music, but I don’t see a lot of festivals going out of their way to feature blues legends like Jimmy Johnson and Jody Williams, as they seem to be to feature this pair. A woman is featured on the cover of Blues Revue and yet I would be hard pressed to name one blues song on her most recent CD (which isn’t saying the music isn’t good, just that it ain’t blues). 

If promoting music like this (music that one might suggest is 'trading on the blues") is keeping the blues alive, perhaps the blues would be better off taken off life support. Let the music rest on its own qualities but just don't try to call it what it isn't.