Salon.com > Jazz

“Downton Abbey” casts first black character

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:52:00 +0000

Gary Carr will play the first black character on the fourth season of ITV's highly acclaimed costume drama, "Downton Abbey."

Carr will play Jack Ross, "a charming and charismatic young man" in the eight-episode season whose role “will bring interesting twists to the drama," said executive producer Gareth Neame in a statement.

The addition of a black character was announced in February responding to criticism over the show's lack of diversity.

Carr's previous experience includes roles in BBC series "Bluestone 42" and "Death In Paradise."

Molly Ringwald and Jane Monheit: The universe knew what it wanted for us

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:20:00 +0000

Molly Ringwald: Hi, Jane, how’ve you been?

Jane Monheit: Good. Really busy. I’m in Georgia right now, in Savannah. We’ve been touring a lot.

How much time do you usually spend in each place?

Well, it depends. If it’s a club, a couple days; if it’s a theater, usually one day. This is a festival, which is a weird situation because we’re playing a venue that’s been created just for the purpose of the festival. I meant to tell you, I’m so sorry I missed you at 54 Below. I was not in town and I couldn’t make it.

I’m playing the Iridium in New York May 8 and 9, but you’re probably not going be there then, either.

I might, actually. I’m not sure, but I’ll come if I’m in town.

But don’t tell me if you’re there, it’ll make me way too nervous. (laughs)

I was nervous when you were at the gig in L.A. Whenever there are other singers in the room you really want to sound good.

It’s funny, I don’t get nervous onstage when I’m acting. It kind of gives me fire and I very often think about the people I know in the house, but there’s something different about singing, in terms of confidence because I haven’t been doing it as steadily as acting. But you’ve been pretty steady just singing your little heart out for how long now?

“Downton Abbey” to introduce first black cast member

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Following up the November announcement to "open the show up ethnically" on "Downton Abbey," casting notes obtained by the Sun today reveal that the show has settled upon casting a black actor to play a jazz musician Jack Ross in the upcoming season.

The Sun reports:

"Casting notes were sent out to actors’ agents earlier this month. They describe Ross as “Male, 25-30. A musician (singer) at an exclusive club in the 20s.

'He’s black and very handsome. A real man (not a boy) with charm and charisma.'

"Whoever lands the role should 'ideally be able to sing brilliantly'. The notes add: 'Overall he should be a very attractive man with a certain wow factor.' Jack Ross will play a key part in the fourth series of the hit TV saga alongside a string of other fresh faces."

Jazz pioneer Donald Byrd dies

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Jazz musician Donald Byrd, a leading hard-bop trumpeter of the 1950s who collaborated on dozens of albums with top artists of his time and later enjoyed commercial success with hit jazz-funk fusion records such as “Black Byrd,” has died. He was 80.

He died Feb. 4 in Delaware, according to Haley Funeral Directors in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Mich., which is handling arrangements. It didn’t have details on his death.

Byrd, who was also a pioneer in jazz education, attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, played in military bands in the Air Force and moved to New York in 1955. The trumpeter, whose given name was Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II, rose to national prominence when he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers later that year, filling the seat in the bebop group held by his idol Clifford Brown.

He soon became one of the most in-demand trumpeters on the New York scene, playing with Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. He also began his recording career by leading sessions for Savoy and other labels.

Did the American songbook kill jazz?

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0000

At first, it sounds like a mistake: The opening notes are blurred, like something has gone a bit wrong in either the playing or the recording. But after a few bars, we realize that these bent tones from a horn — with just a stark bass and drum behind them — are outlining one of the most hallowed of American standards. Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins is at the Village Vanguard, bashing through “What Is This Thing Called Love?” as if he could anticipate the punk rock that would come to this same neighborhood 20 years later. It’s an elegant song by Cole Porter, reduced to its skeleton. And “All the Things You Are” and “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” get the same kind of rough, raw, harmonically daring treatment.

It’s the kind of thing jazz can do at its best — but something the music may be doing less and less of. Or too often and not well enough. The various factions that make up the jazz world — audiences, musician, writers, plus the teachers and students who seem to be the only groups growing in number — don’t have a consensus on the matter. But the jazz fraternity seems to know two things: Despite continued artistic quality, the audience around the music is dying. And the choice of what songs jazz musicians play — and what they don’t play — may be part of the problem.

Dave Brubeck is good for your brain

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:37:00 +0000

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck died December 5, just one day before his 92nd birthday. The pianist and composer was an innovator, especially when it came to combining rhythms and meters in new ways. "He sort of tired of the traditional patterns of jazz," says Patrick Langham, a saxophonist and faculty member of the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.

Time Out, the hit 1959 album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, was one of the first popular jazz works to explore meters beyond the traditional 4/4 and 3/4. (The first number, which is the top number of the time signature in sheet music, represents the number of beats in the measure, and the second number represents the note value that receives one beat. 4/4 means that there are four beats and a quarter note lasts for one beat, yielding four quarter notes in each measure.) "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," two of Brubeck's most popular works, are both on Time Out.

Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar dies at 92

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, has died. He was 92.

The prime minister's office confirmed his death and called him a "national treasure."

Labeled "the godfather of world music" by George Harrison, Shankar helped millions of classical, jazz and rock lovers discover the centuries-old traditions of Indian music.

He also pioneered the concept of the rock benefit with the 1971 Concert For Bangladesh. To later generations, he was known as the estranged father of popular American singer Norah Jones.

As early as the 1950s, Shankar began collaborating with and teaching some of the greats of Western music, including violinist Yehudi Menuhin and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He played well-received shows in concert halls in Europe and the United States, but faced a constant struggle to bridge the musical gap between the West and the East.

Describing an early Shankar tour in 1957, Time magazine said "U.S. audiences were receptive but occasionally puzzled."

His close relationship with Harrison, the Beatles lead guitarist, shot Shankar to global stardom in the 1960s.

Salon readers remember Dave Brubeck

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Daniel Mense:

Most interesting fact about Brubeck: Sometime close to his graduation from Oberlin College one of Brubeck’s professors found out that he was unable to read music. Upon learning this, the school nearly restricted him from graduating, however, they were able to cut a deal and that was: They would let him graduate if he swore to never teach music to anyone – and so he went on to become one of the most influential and innovative musicians of all time. Tell me one person in history that ever graduated from college or university that could not read – what a genius and inspiration for us all!!!!!!

Gabe Johnson:

"Fujiyama" -- American jazz based on Japanese themes and tonality: In lesser hands this would be a recipe for disaster, but Brubeck's solo here is a thing of transcendent beauty.

Abraham Beeson:

From an album of time signature experiments came some of Dave's biggest hits. Lesser known, but my fave has always been the 3/4-4/4 switcheroos of "Three to Get Ready."

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck dies at 91

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:57:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck, whose pioneering style in pieces such as "Take Five" caught listeners' ears with exotic, challenging rhythms, has died. He was 91.

Brubeck died Wednesday morning of heart failure after being stricken while on his way to a cardiology appointment with his son Darius, said his manager Russell Gloyd. Brubeck would have turned 92 on Thursday.

Brubeck had a career that spanned almost all American jazz since World War II. He formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 and was the first modern jazz musician to be pictured on the cover of Time magazine — on Nov. 8, 1954 — and he helped define the swinging, smoky rhythms of 1950s and '60s club jazz.

The seminal album "Time Out," released by the quartet in 1959, was the first ever million-selling jazz LP, and is still among the best-selling jazz albums of all time. It opens with "Blue Rondo a la Turk" in 9/8 time — nine beats to the measure instead of the customary two, three or four beats.

A piano-and-saxophone whirlwind based loosely on a Mozart piece, "Blue Rondo" eventually intercuts between Brubeck's piano and a more traditional 4/4 jazz rhythm.

Madeleine Albright is quite the drummer

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright got the biggest applause at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz gala at the Kennedy Center, because she is apparently an awesome drummer:

From the Washington Post:

"A longtime supporter of jazz who has worked with the Monk Institute for years, Albright received the annual Fisher Founder’s Award. After the customary speech of thanks, she went to a drum set and pounded away on tom-toms and cymbals — quite creditably — as trumpeter Chris Botti performed an instrumental version of 'Nessun dorma,' the aria from the Puccini opera 'Turandot.'"

Albright, who received the gala's annual Fisher Founder’s Award, had a similar exhibition at the Kennedy Center honors in February 2011. Skip to the 2:00 mark for Albright:

Should Duke Ellington be compared to Bach?

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:30:00 +0000

IN 1933, HAVING BUILT a national reputation as the composer-bandleader toiling nightly for white audiences at the Cotton Club, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and his “jungle” orchestra embarked on their first European tour. The following year, British music critic Constant Lambert proclaimed that Ellington was “skillful as compared with other jazz composers,” but that his music could stand alongside that of the European masters: “I know of nothing in Ravel so dexterous […] nothing in Stravinsky more dynamic.” The names of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Paul Hindemith, and César Franck were dropped in as well. Such proclamations by Lambert and his European peers were pounced on by American journalists, who responded with headlines like “Harpsichords and Jazz Trumpets” and “‘Hot Damn!’ Says Ellington When Ranked with Bach.” Ellington’s media image was reborn.