Hans Glawischnig's Panoramic Jazz

New York based bassist Hans Glawischnig has certainly come along way from his Graz, Austria beginnings. He has attended Berklee, the Manhattan School of Music and in 1995 took the bass seat in Bobby Watson’s Urban Renewal followed by a stint with Maynard Ferguson, before he was invited to join Ray Barretto’s New World Spirit Ensemble Jazz followed by engagements with Pacquito D’Riviera, David Samuels and Bobby Sanabria along with performances with Billy Harper, Richie Beirach, Billy Hart, Joe Locke, Steffon Harris, Claudio Roditi, Brian Lynch, Phil Woods and Claudia Acuna to name a few. and his first album as a leader was Common Ground for Fresh Sounds/New Talent in 2003.

Now Sunnyside has just issued his latest release as a leader, Panorama. On his nine compositions he is joined by such well known artists as pianists Chick Corea, and Luis Perdomo; drummers Johnathan Blake, Antonio Sanchez, and Marcus Gilmore; saxophonists David Binney, Miguel Zenon and Rich Perry; and guitarist Ben Monder. Zenon (in whose band Glawischnig) is present on four of the performances which have a pretty wide cast. Zenon’s sax dominates the opening Line Drive, with his clean tone and marvelous invention followed by the impressive Perdomo’s piano while the leader’s bass anchors the proceedings and drummer Blake imaginatively keeps pushing the tune along while adding his own accents.

The title track features Corea in a very thoughtful, lyrical vein, while Glawischnig also gets to solo, while Zenon returns on The Orchids, a performance that evokes some of the flavor of Keith Jarrett’s European Quartet recordings. Gypsy Tales, is a quintet track with guitarist Monder, saxophonist Binney and drummer Antonio Sanchez with a spacey feel, with Binney taking a probing tenor solo while Monder’s guitar is in the post McLaughlin and Abercombie approach. Set to Sea is a lovely ballad featuring the tenor of Rich Perry, while Corea returns for Oceanography, derived From How Deep Is The Ocean. Barretto’s Way, opens with nice bowed bass playing before a bit of flamenco is evoked by his bass (suggestive of David Holland here).

The rest of the album features fresh material, thoughtful and inventive playing and marvelous group interplay making Panorama a superior jazz release. Here is a youtube of Hans playing with Miguel Zenon's group with Luis Perdomo on piano.

This review originally appeared in the October 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 309). I believe I received my review copy from the publication.  

Butch Warren's French Album Debut

I have become aware that Butch Warren, a bassist who was a Washington native, who five decades ago was a vital part of the New York City and a regular on Blue Note album dates along with pianist Sonny Clark and drummer Billy Higgins (think about some sessions by Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Booker Ervin, Jackie McLean, Kenny Dorham and McCoy Tyner), was playing regularly in the area, although having a number of issues including spells of homelessness. Pianist Peter Edelman has been part of groups that featured Warren at Washington.

Giovanni Russonello, at the excellent DC jazz website, www.capitalbop.com had a review of several recent releases by DC area artists and Warren’s first date as a leader, French 5Tet (Black & Blue) was one of them. The album was a result of French saxophonist Pierrick Menuau, in Washington for a concert at the French Embassy, catching Warren playing at a club and then putting together a brief tour of France including a a public concert for Radio France that was broadcast and then issued on French 5Tet.

Menuau and Warren are joined on this recording by Jean-Phillipe Border on guitar, Pierre Christophe on piano and Mourad Behammou on drums. The recording has the same flavor as those classic Blue Note recodings warren was just a part of. it opens up with Warren’s bass on the original, A Little Chippie, before Menuau displays a strong fluid tenor sax style (and like Dexter Gordon inserting some musical quotations) followed by some fleet guitar as the rhythm section swings. Hank Mobley’s East of The Sun follows with nice cymbal work by Benhammou, and then the classic ballad Laura with more lovely tenor (Menuau perhaps sounding some like Long Tall Dexter).

There are three more Warren originals and one might wonder whether the performances titled I Remember Monk and Eric Walks are correctly titled. The tune labelled I Remember Monk is somewhat suggestive to these ears of Mingus’ So Long Eric, while Eric Walks is a swinging performance that kicks off with terrific guitar before another nice sax solo.  Really nice sax in the vein of Booker Ervin on I Remember Monk. I enjoyed the other original, Barack Obama, apparently a more recent composition of Warren with a samba tinge. Giovanni Russelonello was disappointed in the performance, and references a performance by Warren with a group that included pianist Freddie Redd (another Blue Note legend) and drummer Nasar Abadey, noting “With a talented three-saxophone line carrying Barack Obama’s melody, the band sauntered and flowed, swinging deeply and proudly through the brief “B” section.” I certainly appreciate Russenello’s perspective and one certainly echoes his hope that Warren have a chance to record it again. It was Kenny Dorham who took Warren out of Washington and to New York and after a brief statement of The Theme, the 5Tet concludes with the classic Blue Bossa, another classic Warren played on the original. This is a thoroughly enjoyable recording and it is worth seeking out. It certainly is heartening that it is available and perhaps a domestically produced follow-up will be coming shortly.


The Capital Bop review is at http://www.capitalbop.com/2011/05/12/album-review-the-debut-of-a-legend-butch-warrens-french-5tet/. Information on ordering can be found at http://concertsonthehill.info/bw/index.html and for US orders, $18.00. One can send payment through PayPal to the address concertsonthehill@gmail.com. One can also send email questions to that address and request an invoice and it is available at amazon but perhaps through the same source.


As a bonus from youtube, here is Butch Warren and his French FTet performing Blue Bossa, from his tour of France.

Capital Bop will be presenting The DC JazzLoft series as part of the upcoming DC Jazz Festival, http://www.capitalbop.com/dcjazzloft/ which folks can support through Kickstarter, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/capitalbop/capitalbops-dc-jazz-loft-series-at-the-dc-jazz-fes.

Milt Hinton's marvelous life

I just finished this morning reading Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton’s Life in Stories and Photographs, by Milt Hinton, David G. Berger & Holly Maxson (Vanderbilt University) and while I still have a more formal review to write wanted to spread the word about this remarkable book. The late Milt Hinton was one of the most venerated jazz musicians. In addition to his bass playing, he also was an accomplished photographer. Some twenty years ago, Hinton and Berger authored The Bass Line which the present volume updates and serves as a pictorial autobiography as it includes family photos and others from the Hinton family collection in addition to over 100 new photos by Hinton that was added to this upgraded addition. And there are phots of everyobe from Coltrane, Ellington, In addition to recounting his days with Cab Calloway or the New York recording studios, he also has several pages discussing his photography, how Keg Johnson convinced him to get a Leica (his first camera was an Argus) and later purchasing a Canon (I believe one with a trigger). There is also a CD of interview segments with the late jazz master and the book’s dimensions are of a coffee table book. This is not a book to casually lug around, rather one to sit back, kick one’s shoes off and savor.