Jazz and Quilts

Jazz & Quilts, Always a Great Combo!

My latest quilt project....applique quilt blocks which I have unexpectedly turned into vehicles for gathering the signatures of jazz musicians! 

I have been stitching on these blocks over our last two adventures with The Jazz Cruise. This year I suddenly thought...why don't I use the blocks to gather the musicians' signatures! Wa-la!

Now I am going to try to design a rather "jazzy", unconventional setting for the blocks, not at all like the original blocks from the 1870s quilt would have been set. It will be fun to comb thru the gazillion digital photos I have stored, as well as my books, to get some ideas.

Meanwhile, here is a link to another much smaller project where I collected the signatures of jazz musicians. 

"Artemis"

"Artemis," the all-women instrumental sextet (check them by clicking here!) with Melissa Aldana (tenor sax), Anat Cohen (clarinet), Renee Rosnes (piano), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Noriko Ueda (bass) and Allison Miller (drums).

Gary tried to decipher the signatures after the fact. I should have jotted them down on a paper list as they signed each block but it didn't occur to me at the time.

I haven't deciphered all the signatures, but by comparing their signatures on Gary's CDs and the context of who played with whom, we can identify about 80% of them:

Upper left includes a potpourri of musicians: Joel Frahm (tenor sax), Benny Green (piano), Jon Hamar and Clark Sommers (bass), Bijon Watson (lead trumpet in the big band) and singers: the amazing Niki Haris whom I never tire of hearing sing; plus the witty, smokey Jessica Molaskey.

The upper right quilt block is dominated by the Brubeck Brothers -- Chris Brubeck (bass and trombone) and Daniel Brubeck (drums), with drummer Billy Hart.  It was such a pleasure to listen to Dave Brubeck's sons play in person and to also hear them share their family stories and memories. Daniel actually lives not too far from us here in the PNW.  (And, of course, I am partial to the name Daniel anyway given it's the name of my son, brother and grandfather!)

The lower left block captures the "Name That Tune" leaders. It's hosts are the wonderful talented, witty Ken Peplowski on clarinet; Shelly Berg on piano; Johnny Pizzarelli on guitar (and comic foil to Ken) and Gary Alexander ("Saxman Alex"/KLOI Radio DJ, Lopez Island, WA), as a "Name That Tune" contestant.

The final quilt block is dominated by "Artemis," the all-women instrumental sextet (check them out!!!!), with Melissa Aldana, tenor saxophone (and still in her 20s); Anat Cohen (clarinet) whom we have heard many times on the Jazz Cruise; Renee Rosnes (piano), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Noriko Ueda (bass) and Allison Miller (drums).

Other women in that block are vocalist Catherine Russell and Kelly Peterson , widow of pianist Oscar Peterson). (Kelly was so excited when she saw my quilt block and exclaimed that she is a quilter, too!)

Catherine Russell

Melissa Walker of Jazz House for Kids (check this out!) 

Ken Peplowski

Kelly Peterson

Lee Mergner

John Clayton

John Pizzarelli and wife Jessica Molaskey

John Fedchock 

By  LEONARD FEATHER

Source: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-27-ca-1303-story.html

JULY 27, 1986

“50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR.” Woody Herman Big Band. Concord CJ302. Recorded last March at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, this is an almost flawless example of the current Herman Herd.

Emerging as the unsung hero is John Fedchock, a superior jazz trombonist who also wrote all but one of the arrangements. It’s a typically eclectic Herman set, with themes drawn from Ellington, Coltrane, Monk, Bob Haggart (a fine “What’s New?”) and Fedchock himself. “Conga” is a brisk Latin pace-changer, and Lou Donaldson’s “Fried Buzzard” a vehicle for some funky cooking. “Epistrophy” is done partly in 6/8, building tension with Herman on soprano sax. Frank Tiberi, the band’s veteran tenor sax soloist, and Lynn Seaton, playing bass and singing a la Slam Stewart, contribute valuably to this 4 1/2-star session.

Other musicians in this quilt block include John Clayton (bass) and leader of the big band and sweet, sweet guy we have had the pleasure of meeting many times; John Fedchock (trombone); Christian McBride (bass and big band leader) and his wife Melissa Walker of Jazz House for Kids; and Emmet Cohen (piano and organ), a wonderful young we have had the pleasure of seeing every year since his first jazz cruise (and ours!) about 10 years ago. 

Signatures from guys "in the background" (i.e. not on stage) include Lee Mergner (editor of Jazz Times and sweet guy) and New York photographer John Abbott (official photographer of the Jazz Cruise), who just sent us a video of the "Name That Tune" contest in which Gary participated.



PS: To see my mini Jazz Signature quilt, click here.

Jazz Signature Quilt and Yarn Bombing

Jazz and Quilts 

Have a Lot in Common!

Scanned art by KarenQuilt: 100% cotton and the
found "skeleton" of a leaf.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

The artists of both forms 

know how to incorporate "soul" 

into their work!

Dindga McCannon's "A Tribute to Charlie Parker" from Textural Rhythms: Quilting the Jazz Tradition by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi.

See one of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi's jazz and quilts exhibit here (http://www.jazzschool.com/html/events_live.html)

Click here to visit Carolyn's website to order one of her books.

Our First Jazz Cruise!

Just back from our first Jazz Cruise. What a fabulous experience! It was unlike any other jazz event I have ever attended with Gary. It wins hands down as the kind of venue in which I can enjoy experiencing jazz. 

Some of the members of the marvelous Clayton Brothers Quintet. L-R: Terrel Stafford, Jeff Clayton, and Gerald Clayton at piano.  Missing from the photo are bassist John Clayton and drummer Obed.

Below are signatures on fabric from the Clayton Brothers Quintet. Love the way John Clayton and the drummer added a little icon with their signature!

Their most recent recordings were nominated for Grammy awards for best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group "Brother to Brother" (artistShare, 2009).

Here and here are links to John Clayton playing with Diana Krall and another link to one of John's jazz workshops. Love this man!

I am not a hard core jazz fan. It's weird, but I have seldom had any music on in my office the past 10 years. I'm not quite sure why that is.

And I can't sit and listen to live jazz for more than one set at a club without getting restlesss...until now!! I have discovered the secret for me....having needlework in my hands.

Dark jazz clubs and concert halls do not readily lend themselves to executing needlework. The eye strain is terrible.

 

Love the saxaphone! L-R: Grant Stewart, Harry Allen, Ken Peplowski. All I can says is WOW!
Ken is also a wicked comic!! 

Then came The Jazz Cruise, which changed my whole experience of jazz!

I now know that if my hands are engaged, I can sit through set after set! In fact, the needlework actually helps me concentrate on the music!

Remember the small quilt (above) I told you about in my previous post that I rushed to put together to take on the trip?  Quite frankly, I am not sure if these were remnants from one of my mother-in-law's projects or of someone else's project that I was given since moving to this island. I didn't stitch or cut out any of these pieces myself. I just laid them out on plain muslin in a pattern that pleased me.
 

At any rate, I thought I was preparing a "doll" quilt to embroider while cruising, but once I started stitching, I realized it was really meant to be a small signature quilt for the musicians to sign!

And the more I looked at it, the more the "story" this little quilt wanted to tell began to come to me.

There are two pillars, one on either side of the central medallion which contains the original "flame" of jazz....THE HUMAN SOUL, if you will......THE PURE LOVE OF MUSIC AT THE HEART OF ALL who have the ear to hear!

The two pillars represent the incredible confluence of African rhythms --and its call and response-- with that of Western classical music. The checkerboard effect of these scraps represent (to me) how these two musical streams have experienced a long evolving journey through human history. The spark this confluence of musical streams ignited has evolves endlessly, just like our quilt art does!

So many wonderful musicians! 

And because of the venue, you actually get to talk with them one-on-one!

We were once again privileged to hear Freddy Cole --brother of Nat King Cole-- and to meet him in person this time...

as well as meet George Wein --founder of the Newport Jazz Festival. What an honor to have both sign my little quilt!

....Plus all but 2 of the female musicians and/or singers, including the marvelous Grammy winning Janis Siegel (who was there with her own Quartet) signed. Of course Janis is still singing with the original Manhattan Transfer group as well --going on 31 years now!  Manhattan Transfer is one of my all-time favorite singing groups. I first heard them while living in New Orleans in the 80s. The concert was outdoors at Audubon Park next to the zoo. I asked Janis if they knew ahead of time they were going to be riding elephants onto the concert grounds ---or was it a last minute surprise the organizers pulled on them?!! It was pretty much last minute surprise, she said, that they decided to go along with. I have to say as an audience participant, it was a pretty darn exciting entrance!!!

Janis was intrigued with the idea of a signature quilt when she went to sign it. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the cabin the first four days of the cruise so I never got any photos of her. You can hear a song and see her here.

Talk About a Beautiful Soul!

I also heard Nnenna Freelon perform for the first time. Yes, you read right. It's spelled Nnenna.  Click here to read about her on Wickipedia.

Nnenna Freelon - WOW! What an incredible human being!

If you like jazz at all, you may have already heard of Nnenna. I haven't kept up with current jazz artists so she was new to me.  WOW!  Just click here and here to see some of her performances on YouTube. Once you go to the first one, more will come up on the right side of your screen. She is well worth a "visit".

Nnenna Freelon, nominated for 6 Grammys, has a huge heart for arts education and loves talking about parenting. When she signed my little quilt she exclaimed, "Oh, a quilt! Don't people sometimes make quilts out of people's clothes? My sister and I want to do something with our Mama's clothes but we don't want to just give them all to Goodwill. Maybe we could make a quilt!" 

I told her I would be happy to connect her with someone who could help her get such a quilt made and that I could also help her document any quilts her mother or grandmother had made. Her eyes lit up and she asked if I had a card. I did! I hope she finds  time in her busy schedule to contact me or find someone else who might help her to realize this dream of a quilt made of her mother's clothes.

I also shared with almost a dozen women on the cruise about Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, the Women of Color Quilt Network, Kyra Hicks and Cuesta Benberry.  You can read my tribute to Cuesta at her passing here. The transcript of Faith Ringgold's interview of Cuesta is here.

Two More Incredible Women Artists in the Field of Jazz New to me.

Italian Ada Rovatti (left) and Israeli Anat Cohen (right).

 See Anat on Wiki here.  Ada Rovatti  plays with the Randy Brecker Quintet.

Bucky Pizzerlli and his son John are two of our favorite guitarists. Bucky was on the cruise this year. John Pizzerelli will be on the cruise next year!

Bucky Pizarelli above

Our lovely dinner companions for the week of the cruise!

And here is a link to one of my newer posts about Jazz and Quilts!

Are you still in the mood for more color?

Have you heard about YARN BOMBING? I learned about it from a British gentleman on the cruise. He told me about it after he saw me stitching on my small quilt.

Take a peek at their blog. Some call it "stitching graffiti". Wikipedia even has an article about it. Click here to see it. Here are some marvelous photos of what knitters and crocherts are doing to spiff up public places as well as a talented fiber artist. It's a hoot and is spreading around the world!!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Finland's capitol is taken over by the Yarn Bombers  -

click here to see more photos from Finland.

Update from England

HAVING A GREAT YARN about Galway’s Biggest Coffee Morning are (l-r): Helen Jennings, Mary Somers, Aoife Burke, MaryJo Curran and Sandra Morrissey. These ladies are all part of the Athenry Craft and Chat group and they created this fantastic ‘Tractor Yarn Bomb’ to raise funds for Galway Hospice! Galway’s Biggest Coffee Morning will take place on Thursday next, September 20th, sponsored by Bewleys, in aid of Galway Hospice. You can still register as a Coffee Morning Host by contacting Galway Hospice, or you can register on-line at www.galwayhospice.ie

The ‘Tractor Yarn Bomb’ can be seen at the Eyrecourt Agricultural Show this Saturday 15th September, where the public will have an opportunity to view this fantastic work of art, and all donations on the day will go to Galway Hospice! Photo courtesy of Joe Travers Photography. — with Sandra Morrissey.

And a motorcycle!  Is there anything they won't cover with yarn?

And a bit of humor to close with....

Karen in the Islands

PS: Gary's jazz radio program --JoySpring of Jazz-- streams live on Mondays and Friday at 3-5:30pm PST or 6pm EST on KLOI Lopez Island. Click here http://www.kloi.org/ to find the live streaming link and listen via your computer. He also does a classical program!

PPS: My sweet husband fixed the most fantastic meal for me last night and did it ALL by himself! This was my Valentine surprise gift. His preparing a complete dinner is a rare event in 43 years of marriage. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks!