Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

Though you didn’t find very much in the way of jazz on the delayed Grammy Awards show, it did, in its own way, serve as a strong tribute to Chick Corea who passed from the scene on February 9, 2021. The Chick from Chelsea won a Grammy for best-improvised jazz solo and a second award for best jazz instrumental album. The first was for his work on “All Blues” on the Trilogy 2 disc, while the second named that same disc (that has Brian Blade on drums and Christian McBride on bass) as the best instrumental jazz release of the year.

The other jazz winners in the jazz category on the delayed Grammy day were: Maria Schneider for her large ensemble effort on Data Lords; Kurt Elling with Danilo Perez for best jazz vocal sounds on Secrets Are the Best Stories; and Arturo O’Farrell and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for Four Questions in the Latin Jazz category. Snarky Puppy also captured a Grammy for a best contemporary instrumental album, Live At the Royal Albert Hall. Also, Nas walked away with the top rap album award for King’s Disease. And I mention this because Nas is the som of jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, who like Colorado-based trumpeter Hugh Ragin, can be found on multiple discs by saxophonist David Murray.

Speaking of delays, the panel on The Shop: Women in Jazz scheduled on KUVO has been pushed back to Tuesday, April 6, at 6:30 pm. The panel, features locals; pianist Tenia Renee Nelson, drummer Claire Church, and pianist Carmen Sandim sounds like something you don’t want to miss so keep an eye on the KUVO site and this column.

And for those of you who have been hanging out for 30 plus years for the sequel to the Jazz Worms (or W.O.R.M.S.) initial, 1986 release Crawling Out on Van Buren Records, the time has finally come with the release of Squirmin’ on Capri Records that was recorded in 2017. The group has Andy Weyl on piano, Keith Oxman on tenor saxophone, Paul Romaine on drums, Ron Miles on cornet and Mark Simon on bass is worth the wait.

 

You can also kick off Jazz Appreciation Month with pianist Purnell Steen and Le Jazz Machine on Friday at Jazz on the Plaza, on 24th and Welton Street, at 5 pm and trumpeters Gabriel Mervine and Greg Gisbert at Nocturne a little later that evening.

 

Jazz Notes 4-1-2021
Norman Provizer

Images: top-bottom-Trilogy 2, Kurt Elling & Danilo Perez, The Shop: Women in Jazz, Jazz Worms (homepage), and Gabriel Mervine & Greg Gisbert

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