2. Juli 2010
Mio padre, “papi” come lo chiamavano qui (ha
partecipato a JazzAscona con i Just Another
Band n.d.r.), Keith Williams, è stato il primo
cantante di Gordon. Per caso un giorno mi sentì
cantare e da cosa nasce cosa… Sono onorato di
essere qui con lui.
Il motto di quest’edizione del festival è “New
Standards”. Qual è il suo Jazz Standard preferito?
Ammetto di essere più un fan del R&B, ma se
dovessi sceglierne uno sarebbe “Fly Me To The
Moon”, di cui adoro le parole.
R&B, Rhythm & blues. Cosa può dire del le-
game tra blues, jazz e soul?
È tutta musica (ride): note, parole e sentimento.
Al giorno d’oggi c’è qualcosa che manca, o
che è necessario per comporre un Jazz Standard?
Molti pensano solo a far soldi, ma per me la
musica è altro. Deve trasmettere gioia e positività.
Quali sono i suoi progetti per il futuro?
Partirò per il Giappone, poi mi esibirò a Lugano
e finalmente tornerò a casa (New York n.d.r.)
per riposare un attimo e cominciare a registrare
il mio nuovo album.
J
azz standards are the common
language of musicians around the
world. What makes a jazz standard?
What are some of the JazzAscona
musicians’ favorite standards? And
why? A standard is a tune with great
melody, harmony, lyrics, and rhythm. It’s a
song that endures time and that lends itself to
being played over and over, being reinvented
and rediscovered by new generations of musicians across different cultures. With this year’s
focus on New Standards, we asked some of the
JazzAscona musicians to tell us about their favorite standards.
Title: Today I like Angel Eyes
Why? Great melody and great lyrics.
(Denny Ilett, Jr., guitar/vocals)
Title: A Sailboat In The Moonlight
Why? Great chord changes and great melody.
(Mark Shane, piano)
Title: I Got Rhythm
Why? Because it’s the harmonic basis for many other standards and it’s easy to jam on.
(Frank Roberscheuten, tenor sax/clarinet)
Title: You Go To My Head
Why? The combination of lyrics, melody, and
chord structure create a beautiful story.
(Catherine Russell, vocalist)
Title: East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon
Why? Brooks Bowman died very young and
it’s his only song that survives as a standard.
(George Washingmachine, violin)
Title: How Deep Is The Ocean
Why? The Coleman Hawkins 1943 recording
is a fantastic version of this song, but mainly
it’s just great fun to play because it’s easy to
create your own new version of it.
(Jason Downes, sax/clarinet)
Title: Just One Of Those Things
Why? Nice tempo and very interesting chords.
(Daniel Barda, trombone)
Title: It’s hard to pick one song, there are so
many and I go through phases. There are so
many unknown songs, too, that are absolutely
wonderful and that should be standards.
Un vero “big” della musica
reason the lyrics and songs of past times were
put together so well was that people were not
allowed to date and marry until they were older, so they were more mature than young
lovers today are. Personally I believe the music
is in direct inverse ratio to the economic situation. The greatest songs were written during
the big economic depression. Many had lost all
the material wealth they had and were willing
or forced to turn inward for meaning and compassion.
(Charlie Miller, trumpet)
www.fotopedrazzini.ch
Gazette
L’ACCLAMATO artista newyorkese approda a
JazzAscona accompagnato da un ospite d’eccezione: Gordon Edwards, bassista di fama mondiale e fondatore del celebre gruppo Stuff.
Un “veterano” ormai di JazzAscona, Roy
Bennett, com’è essere di nuovo sulle rive del
Verbano?
È sempre come la prima volta. La Svizzera è un
gran bel paese, Ascona una località stupenda e
la gente magnifica.
Quest’anno è al fianco del grande Gordon
Edwards. Come nasce una collaborazione
tra star?
www.fotopedrazzini.ch
Intervista a Roy Bennett, un vero “big”
della musica soul e R&B
The JazzAscona musicians tell us about their favorite jazz standards
FAVORITE JAZZ
STANDARDS
(Ehud Asterie, piano)
(Judy Carmichael, piano)
Title: Royal Garden Blues and High Society
Why? Unbeatable tonalities and arrangements.
(Jacky Milliet, clarinet)
Title: All The Things You Are
Why? Because there are many different keys.
(Roberto Colombo, guitar)
Title: Sweet Georgia Brown
Why? Interesting key, simple melody, and
simple but uncommon chords.
(Béat Clerc, trumpet/vocals)
Title: Skylark
Why? My favorite bridge.
Title: I love the great ballads, such as Stars Fell
On Alabama, Stardust, How Deep Is The Ocean, The Very Thought Of You, My One And
Only Love, Someone To Watch Over Me,
You’ve Changed.
Why: There are many with a beautiful marriage of lyrics, melody, and chords. My friend
and great songwriter Doc Pomus told me the
Title: I’ll Fly Away
Why? It’s popular in the churches and streets
of New Orleans.
(John Richardson, piano)
Title: Cherokee
Why? The melody is very simple and it doesn’t
take much to understand how the chord
changes work. Kind of ironic that it’s one of
my favorites, also because there are so many
recordings of musicians executing many intricate, wild, beautiful virtuosic passages over
the same chord changes as the simple melody
they were playing seconds before.
(Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown, trumpet)
Title: St. Louis Blues
Why? I love it, it’s a gut feeling. From a musical point of view, it provides endless possibilities of interpretation.
(Peter Hermann, drums)
Title: Lush Life
Why? A beautiful melody and intense and
meaningful lyrics.
(Laura Fedele, piano/vocals)
Title: Jumpin’ In Ascona [laughs]. I especially
love ballads, but sadly they are no longer in fashion.
(Nicolas Gilliet, JazzAscona Artistic
Director)
Mickey Roker’s Stellar Career Has Earned Him a Place as a Statesman of Jazz
MICKEY Roker has played with some of the greatest jazz legends, yet he remains a humble and unassuming man. Born in
Miami in 1932, he moves to Philadelphia after his mother's
death, when he is only ten. His teenage idol is the great Philly
drummer Philly Joe Jones. Mickey starts his career accompaning local R&B bands. Returning to Philly in 1955 after serving in the army, he decides to learn how to play jazz and
participates in jam sessions with up and coming local musicians such as trumpeter Lee Morgan, saxophonist Jimmy Heath,
and pianists Kenny Barron and McCoy Tyner: “They had jam
sessions where when you were a young guy you could learn
how to play. But you had to have the ability to swing or they
wouldn't let you play. That's the main function for a drummer,
to be able to swing the band”. During the 1960s, Mickey Roker
works with the trio of former Duke Ellington trumpeter Ray
Nance, who at the time is accompanying singer Joe Williams,
giving Mickey the opportunity to play with saxophone legends
such as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Benny Carter.
The drummer thus gains a reputation as a singer's accompanist,
and we find him playing alongside divas such as Ella Fitzge-
rald and Nancy Wilson. During the 1970s, he tours with Dizzy
Gillespie's big band: “Dizzy would run me crazy with those
conga drums of his. He'd be playing the drums but he was no
drummer; his rhythms would run me up the wall. But he would
do anything to keep from playing his trumpet”. After Connie
Kay's death in 1994, Mickey Roker joins the Modern Jazz
Quartet. It's while playing with this group that guitarist Bucky
Pizzarelli hears him and reccomends him to the Statesmen of
Jazz, together with Warren Vaché. After such a stellar career,
no doubt has he earned his place as a statesman of jazz!
www.fotopedrazzini.ch
Jede Nacht treffen sich die Musiker von JazzAscona zur “After Hour” in der Delta Beach Lounge
After Hour in der Beach Lounge
WENN eine Konzertform den wahren Geist
der Jazzmusik übermitteln kann und an die
Wurzeln des Modern Jazz erinnert, dann sind
es die Jamsessions, bei denen sich die unterschiedlichsten Musiker spontan zusammenfinden, um zu musizieren – oder eben, besser
ausgedrückt, gemeinsam zu “jammen”. Auch
in Ascona gibt es die Gelegenheit, diese besondere Atmosphäre der improvisierten Gigs
zu erleben. Jede Nacht treffen sich diverse
Musiker des Festivals noch zur After Hour in
der Delta Beach Lounge, wo sie gemeinsam
beweisen, was es bedeutet, ein Vollblut-Jazzer
zu sein: Nämlich, wenn man technisch, aber
auch aus dem Bauch und Herzen heraus, die
Kunst des Improvisierens und des Einfühlens
in die Musik wirklich beherrscht. Bis vier Uhr
morgens bleibt die Lounge am Lido Ascona zu
diesem Anlass geöffnet. Wer beispielsweise
Nächtliche
Jam
Session
am vergangenen Samstag bei der Jamsession
vorbei geschaut hat, konnte diverse Künstler
des Piazza-Programms noch einmal aus nächster Nähe erleben. Als Grundformation treten
jede Nacht die fünf Musiker der Paris-Sydney-
Swing Connection auf, unter ihnen George
Washingmachine (Geige), der den JazzAscona-Fans schon aus den Vorjahren bekannt sein
sollte. Gemeinsam “glühen” sie musikalisch
vor, nach und nach gesellen sich dann andere
Musiker dazu. Theoretisch könnte jeder Gast,
der sich danach fühlt, zum Instrument greifen
und loslegen. Vergangenen Samstag hatte sich
auch einer der Stars des ersten Wochenendes
unter die Musiker gemischt, Ray Gelato, der
dabei sein Können am Saxophon und gesanglich unter Beweis stellte. Ebenfalls “gejammt”
haben der italienische Multi-Instrumentalist
und (zumindest bei JazzAscona) jüngster Big
Band Leader, Attilio Troiano, am Piano sein
Kollege Ehud Asherie und am Schlagzeug Roberto Pistoli.
Jam Session: jeden Abend, 0.00 Uhr bis
4.00 Uhr, Delta Beach Lounge. Ascona