Bill Charlap: The Modern Pianist

Bill Charlap (piano; b. 1966)
Writen In The Stars

Bill Charlap is wonderful and accomplished pianists in the vain of Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. He has worked with Tony Bennett, Clark Terry and Gerry Mulligan among others. There's nothing technically complicated or cerebral going on here, just a nice dose of jazz with your Sunday morning tea.

I first started listening to Charlap after seeing him at the Village Vanguard in New York many years ago. I thought he was a superb performer and his band consisting of two young veterans, Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums) were excellent compliments to Charlap's mastery of the standards repertoire.

Charlap has an extensive catalog crossing a couple of labels but the one album that I believe is very representative of his style and is most appealing to everyone is Written In The Stars (Blue Note). Written In The Stars features the members listed above and is absolutely perfect throughout. This album is pretty widely available so you should be able to find it fairly easily. Bill Charlap is a modern craftsman of piano and someone you might want to check out if you starting your jazz collection from scratch.

Jack Kerouac: Jazz On The Road

Jack Kerouac
On The Road

I began re-reading Jack Kerouac's On The Road recently and I have to say this novel should be listed in the top 50 of American literary stories. Kerouac's vision and storytelling was always far beyond is fellow "Beat" contemporaries. While Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs and others were all prolific and inventive, Kerouac's writing was more appealing to the masses. Keroauc was a big jazz fan (especially of Charlie Parker) and On The Road reads like one giant jazz opus.

The cross country trek taken by Kerouac, Ginsberg and Neal Cassidy is one of beauty, grit and a magnificent description of Americana in the late '40s. For those who don't know, Kerouac wrote On The Road in 1947 and the final version wasn't published until 1957. There have been numerous reprints over the last 50 years with the most recent being the complete scrolls. This version is definitely worth buying but you can easily find the originally publishers version everywhere as well. The difference mainly is that in the scrolls features the real names of the characters before he changed them for the 1957 publication.

If you haven't read On The Road due yourself a favour a pick it up. Below is a classic clip from a Jack Kerouac documentary that epitomizes why he was one the best American writers we will ever see.

Charlie "Bird" Parker

Charlie Parker (alto saxophone; b. 1920 - d. 1955)

Along with Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker is the reason why we love jazz. Charlie Parker was responsible for creating the foundation for many musicians (not just other saxophone players) to follow. The sheer power, beauty and swift ability of his improvisation is what everyone looks to achieve as a musician, why people go to concerts and why we buy an album. His skill was the result of years of study and hard work but he is arguably the godfather of bebop.

Born in Kansas City, Charlie Parker originally spent time playing blues and R&B before switching to jazz in his teens. After moving to New York he soon began working with Dizzy Gillespie (the partnership known to many as "Diz and Bird"). His life was filled with ups and downs all fueled by drugs (mainly heroin) and other struggles with life. But this is also what fueled his creative process and for that we have a wealth of material to be thankful for and to explore. Definitely an artist from whom everyone should at have at least one CD in their collection. If you go online or to a record store you will find a plethora of music from this legend.

This entry is really meant for those who may not have a Charlie Parker album in your collection. Let me narrow it down with a little laser sharp vision. I would recommend The Best of Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings (Savoy Jazz). This collection is pretty readily available online and in-stores. The music is literally the most essential of Charlie Parker's material and many of the tracks will be familiar even to those of you who are not jazz fans such as "Scrapple From The Apple", "Orinthology" and "Yardbird Suite". Charlie Parker's performances with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie are well documented and can be found on a variety of other collections. The Best of Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings focuses on his material and while you listen you will realize you are in the presence of greatness.

Charlie Parker's influence can be felt on almost every artist in jazz in some form of another. And as one more point of reverence, one of Clint Eastwood's early production works was the film Bird which pays tribute to the legend. Not the greatest film but Eastwood is a big jazz aficionado so he deserves credit for trying.

I hope everyone has a chance to buy a Charlie Parker album at some point in their lives - you will have the opportunity to experience the Greatest right in your own room. This is why we love jazz.

The Intersection: Mocean Worker

The Intersection is a new feature on JazzWrap that looks at artists that blend jazz with electronica (a tradition pioneered by none other than Miles Davis on such classic recordings as On the Corner).

This week's focus is Mocean Worker.

Mocean Worker aka Adam Dorn is one of the jazzier electronica musicians out there, and with good reason – he has it in his blood. Dorn's dad Joel was one of Atlantic Records’ top producers during the 1960s and '70s, helming sessions by John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, as well as Roberta Flack, Bette Midler and the Allman Brothers. As for Adam, he studied at the renowned Berklee College of Music and has worked with artists as varied as David Sanborn to Hal Willner to Chaka Khan. Adam and his dad also have reissued jazz albums from the defunct Muse and Landmark labels on their own 32 Records.

Mocean Worker began promisingly with the cut ‘n’ paste drum ‘n’ bass album Home Movies from the Brainforest ('98), which was released by the punk label Conscience. His appreciation of Latin rhythms and crime jazz moods is evident on “The Mission” and “Overtime” which smolders with film noir intensity. His mash-up of “Summertime” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” is among the best of its late ‘90s retro kind.

Dorn moved to Island Records’ subsidiary Palm Pictures for his strong second effort, the more polished Mixed Emotional Features ('99). By turns jazzy and cinematic, this album further demonstrates Dorn’s love of tasty samples, but also shows some significant growth in his synth and production skills. An atmosphere of intrigue and drama pervades tracks such as “Rene M” and “Heaven @ 12:07.” And the cut ‘n’ paste retro jazz workout “Counts, Dukes and Satyrs” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on his first album.

Dorn’s third album Aural & Hearty ('00) is the clubbiest of his efforts and probably the most disposable, but does offer another trip down millennial sampledelic nu-jazz in “Velvet Black Sky.”

When Mocean Worker returned four years later with Enter the MoWo! ('04), Dorn’s taste for funky beats and jazz loops (“On and On”, “Right Now”) were back at the forefront. The album also features a number of special guests including Les McCann (“That’s What’s Happenin’ Tonight”), Bill Frissell (“Salted Fatback”), Steve Bernstein of Sex Mob (“Only the Shadow Knows”), and Hal Willner (“Move”) as well as David "Fathead" Newman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Nina Simone. Enter the MoWo! may be the best introduction to Mocean Worker.

For his fifth album, Dorn continued to ply the old school beat jazz vibe and Latin jazz grooves with Cinco de MoWo! ('07). Check out the infectious sample-jacking splendor of “Shake Ya Boogie”, and the cameo appearances of Herb “Tijuana Brass” Alpert (“Changes”) and Rahsaan Roland Kirk (“Siss Boom Bah” and “Reykjavik”). While the hooks aren’t quite as infectious as Enter the MoWo!, Cinco de MoWo! effectively builds on Dorn’s jazz-inspired electronica sound.

Next Week: Compost Records' Future Sounds of Jazz series