A couple news items this week – Foremost is the word that local saxophonist Terrance Farmer will be playing John Coltrane in the upcoming Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead! The movie, which is directed by and starring Don Cheadle, recently began filming in Cincinnati – we will keep you posted when a release date nears. In concert news, longtime jazz-jam outfit Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey has announced a fall tour in celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band, including a stop at Dicks Den on Monday, November 10th! After evolving through many lineups, the now trio will release its new album Worker October 14th on Royal Potato Family Records.
Shows To See This Week
Friday, August 22nd: Remember Hank Marr at Bungalow Jazz. From Becky Ogden:
The JAG Jazz Academy presented a little version of this and we all liked it so much we wanted more. Jon Eshelman [organ] was a student of Hank’s while studying jazz at OSU and his organ style is influenced by Hank’s playing (very different from Bobby Floyd’s or Tony Monaco’s). Tom Carroll [guitar] and Jim Rupp [drums] were regulars with Hank and know the music and style and lots of stories! [Featured vocalist] Mary McClendon really got her start as a jazz singer with Hank (I think). So… the evening will be all Hank Marr repertoire – some originals by Hank and then his regular repertoire. It will be a sweet night of music!
Sunday, August 24th: Tom Tallitsch Quartet at Dick’s Den. NYC-based tenor saxophonist Tallitsch seems to come through town every year or so, and always puts an exciting spin on a variety of standards and originals. His 2014 release Ride features excellent new compositions and arrangements of a couple choice classic rock tunes. His band for the evening will consist of local stalwarts Lucas Holmes on piano, Nate Smith on bass, and Maxwell Button on drums.
Wednesday, August 27th: Wake Fold at Brothers Drake. The local quartet (Zakk Jones – guitar, Danny Bauer – keyboard, Matthiessen Nisch-Quan – drums, Will Strickler – bass) has returned to the live scene this summer after a scholastic hiatus. Jones was very kind to give me an update on the band and a preview of this Jazz Wednesday show:
Wake Fold began a few years ago when we all met at Capital University, where we are all Jazz Studies majors. We started playing school and private functions, then branched out into the Columbus scene. Last year, especially in the summer, we were very active (Jazz and Ribs, Natalie’s, Easton etc.), but as school came around we scaled back our live schedules to focus on our recitals (all of us gave recitals last year and we were involved in many others as well). Now that everyone except myself has graduated (one more year!) we were able to get back into some semi-regular gigging this summer. We are all involved in multiple projects so Wake Fold is something we like to come back to whenever possible, as we have established a great rapport both musically and personally with each other. We have been pleased to play at the Worthington Inn twice this summer, as well as continue our monthly gigs in Port Clinton at a local Japanese Steakhouse.
For this Brothers Drake event we are presenting three sets featuring the music of Gerswhin, Wayne Shorter and our own original compositions. We wanted to highlight two extremely important figures in jazz, especially in terms of composition, and then feature our own works. History is important to us, and paying homage to two distinct and equally important eras of jazz has helped us shape our own writing, in the lens of the 21st century. You’ll be hearing everything from “A Foggy Day”, “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum,” a fun, odd-metered original entitled “Get To It,” and lots of surprises in between! We look forward to sharing our music with everyone!
Below is a video from the recent JAG tribute to Hank Marr. Have a great week!