@exuberance - Philadelphia Piano Jazz Salon

invitation: Luke Carlos O'Reilly on SmallsLIVE (April 16)

SmallsLIVE has been employing and presenting jazz musicians online every day throughout the pandemic—even when live audiences are proscribed. Friends of @exuberance are honored to sponsor Smalls’ presentation with Luke Carlos O’Reilly on April 16 in promotion of his latest album I Too Sing America: A Black Man's Diary.

This is a beautiful and passionate suite of meditations on what matters by one of Philadelphia’s most prolific piano artists. Joining Luke for this performance are Josh Evans (trumpet), Christopher McBride (alto sax), Luques Curtis (bass), and Mark Whitfield Jr (drums).

Under the direction of Spike Wilner, SmallsLIVE is heroically keeping the flame of live jazz alive on a daily basis. Programs are free, but please give what you can to support these efforts. 

Luke Carlos O’Reilly
sets at 6 & 7:30 pm EST, April 16
smallsLIVE.com

Iverson RESCHEDULED AGAIN and MORE!

While we remain shuttered here @exuberance, lots of great piano jazz coming up elsewhere:

 

Monday February 15

 

    Gerald Clayton, Sullivan Fortner et al.

    6pm, $15 suggested donation

    watch at youtube.com/thejazzgallery

 

Thursday February 18

 

    TARBABY at Jazz Gallery

    Orrin Evans, Eric Revis, Nasheet Waits

    7.30pm + 9.30pm 

    online: $20/$5 members

 

Saturday February 20

 

    Luke Carlos O’Reilly debuts his forthcoming album

    "I, Too, Sing America:  A Black Man’s Diary”

    with Sean Jones, Luques Curtis, Mark Whitfield II

    7pm

    Chris' Jazz Cafe

 

Monday, March 8 (new date)

 

    Ethan Iverson with Ben Street and Andrew Cyrille

    the music of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell

    5pm + 7pm 

    smallslive.com sponsored by @exuberance

 

also—

 

    check out Tim Brey’s ravishing new album

    "The Things We Did Last Summer"

    with John Swana, Ben Karp, Madison Rast and Anwar Marshall

    https://timbrey.bandcamp.com

 

Creative musicians and presenters like Smalls and Chris’ Jazz Cafe need and deserve our support. Open your ears, your hearts and (if you can) your pocketbooks in appreciation.

invitation: Iverson/Street/Cyrille on Smallslive (March 8)

I miss the days when good folks gathered on Mascher St. for the spiritual renewal of piano jazz. I miss the artists we featured here. I miss their music. I miss you and the magic we shared. We’ve watched our world turned upside down by an insidious virus, unremitting racial injustice, political malevolence and a seditious President. We need the music we love more than ever. 

Friends of @exuberance sponsor another stellar piano ensemble at Smalls on Monday, March 8 with Ethan Iverson channeling the music of Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell. Please join us. It’s free, but donations to the SmallsLIVE Foundation support musicians performing daily livestream concerts at Smalls and Mezzrow.

Ethan Iverson is a renaissance man of music—pianist, composer, educator, thinker, and chronicler of jazz, classical and contemporary culture. Founding pianist of The Bad Plus (14 albums), another 9 albums as leader of other ensembles, long associations with Tootie Heath, Billy Hart, Ron Carter and choreographer Mark Morris. He contributes essays for Jazz Times and The New Yorker. His Do the Math blog is an compelling treasury of interviews, lessons and essays. Mr. Iverson joined New England Conservatory's jazz studio faculty in 2016.

Ben Street is a master bassist. He has performed with John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Monder, Andrew Cyrille, Sam Rivers, Danilo Perez, David Sanchez, Anat Cohen, Manuel Valera, Dayna Stephens and many others. He played memorably here @exuberance with Aaron Parks and Billy Hart.

Andrew Cyrille began his jazz studies with Philly Joe Jones. Since then he played with Mary Lou Williams, Coleman Hawkins, Roland Hanna, Illinois Jacquet, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard, Walt Dickerson, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Babatunde Olatunji, David Murray, Muhal Richard Abrams, Mal Waldron, Horace Tapscott, James Newton, Peter Brötzmann and Oliver Lake, among others. For over 27 years he has been a member of TRIO3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman. Cyrille is a 2019 commissioned composer in Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works program, and is recipient of numerous grants and awards.

Ethan Iverson Trio
5 and 7pm Monday, March 8
smallslive.com

invitation: Miki Yamanaka Quartet @smallslive (November 14)

While we remain shuttered, courageous presenters like Smalls are offering live piano jazz. @exuberance subscribers sponsored Ari Hoenig’s quartet there in August. On November 14 they sponsor another program we wish we were presenting here on Mascher St.

Miki Yamanaka is a New York-based pianist from Kobe, Japan. She studied piano with Jason Lindner, Jeb Patton and Fred Hersch, and organ with Sam Yahel and Larry Goldings. Notable musicians on her performance resume include Steve Nelson, Seamus Blake, Jerry Dodgion, Victor Lewis, Rich Perry, Antonio Hart and Peter Bernstein. She is pianist in the Philip Harper Quintet, the Roxy Coss Quintet and the Antonio Hart Group. Her latest album Human Dust Suite features alto saxophonist Anthony Orji, bassist Orlando le Fleming, and drummer Jochen Rueckert.

Joining Ms. Yamanaka at Smalls:

Mark Turner is a graceful and compelling tenor saxophone voice. Turner's diverse discography includes collaborations with Biilly Hart, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Dave Holland, Joshua Redman, Delfeayo Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, Reid Anderson, Omer Avital, Brian Blade, Seamus Blake, Chris Cheek, Aaron Goldberg, Ethan Iverson, Guillermo Klein, Jaleel Shaw, Edward Simon and the SF Jazz Collective. Leader on 12 albums in the last 15 years, he is co-leader of Fly trio with drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier.

Orlando Le Fleming is a virtuoso bassist whose collaborations include Jimmy Cobb, Branford Marsalis, Joey Calderazzo, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bill Charlap, Billy Cobham, Ari Hoenig, Jane Monheit, Seamus Blake, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and David Sanchez. He is member of the OWL Trio with Lage Lund and Will Vinson.

Jochen Rueckert is a largely self-taught composer, drummer and bandleader.  Jochen is known for his work in the Marc Copland trio, the mid-2000 Kurt Rosenwinkel New Quartet, all of Nils Wogram's Root 70, and recent work with the Melissa Aldana trio. He programs electronic music under the name Wolff Parkinson White.

Under the direction of Spike Wilner, smallslive is heroically keeping the flame of live jazz alive on a daily basis. Programs are free, but please give what you can to support these efforts. 

Miki Yamanaka Quartet
4:45-6:30pm Saturday, November 14
smallslive.com

invitation: Ari Hoenig Quartet (August 31)

While @exuberance remains dark, the lights are on every evening at smalls, and its sounds are everything we miss presenting here on Mascher St. Since live audiences remain impossible, these streaming presentations rely on sponsors. Thanks to our Patreon subscribers we are proud to sponsor the phenomenal Ari Hoenig Quartet on Monday, August 31 from 4:45 to 6:30 pm at smallslive.com.

Ari Hoenig is a Philadelphia original. Cut his teeth with Shirley Scott at Ortlieb's. Countless stands at Chris’. A 17-year residency at smalls. 12 CDs as leader. Long associations with Kenny Werner, Jean Michel Pilc, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, Pat Martino and many others. A breath-taking musician.

Tivon Pennicott is "a careful craftsman, a fearless improviser, one of the most fluent and engaging saxophonists on the scene today.” So sayeth Joshua Redman. Tours and recordings with Kenny Burrell, Esperanza Spalding, Gregory Porter, Kenneth Salters, Sullivan Fortner and Jon Batiste.

Gabriel Chakarji is a pianist and composer from Venezuela. His album New Beginning is just released. Please audition these great originals: No Me Convence, The Great Family and Enredadera.

Matt Penman belongs in the pantheon of jazz bassists, as a member of the SFJAZZ Collective, James Farm (with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks and Eric Harland), and collaborations with Aaron Goldberg, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Wayne Shorter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kenny Werner, Dave Douglas, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, Fred Hersch and more.

Under the direction of Spike Wilner, smallslive is heroically keeping the flame of live jazz alive on a daily basis. Programs are free, but please give what you can to support these efforts. 

Ari Hoenig Quartet
4:45-6:30pm Monday, August 31
smallslive.com

kenny barron was here

While we remain dark for the foreseeable future, Brendan and I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. We filmed Mr. Barron here @exuberance as part of Sumi Tonooka’s Act4Music-curated event In Our Hands that includes pianists Billy McCoy, Michele Rosewoman, Kenny Barron and Sumi herself. You can stream this brilliant 2-hour program at home for the month of June. Don’t miss it.

Treat yourself to interviews with Kenny, Sumi, Oliver Lake and Steve Coleman conducted by distinguished radio producer Steve Rowland in another Act4Music program entitled Thinking about the Past and the Present Moment.

Act4Music offers a dizzying array of excellent online programs. Given our focus on piano jazz without distractions, we highlight:

• J. Michael Harrison’s Mother’s Love Celebration presentation of Vijay Iyer, ELEW, Nik Baertsch and Dayramir Gonzalez.
• Ran Blake plays a 30-minute set for the program In My Solitude, curated by singer Sara Serpa.
• Luke Carlos O’Reilly delivers his own curated program.
• Edward Simon contributes a set to Sooya Arts’ From There to Hear.
• Manuel Valera offers a set for Jammin’ Colors Stay Strong.
• Elio Villafranca performs in Lets keep playing…repeat until cue!

All of these pianists deserve our support in these difficult times, and there are so many opportunities for doing so. Here are some more:

• Tim Brey is making beautiful weekly posts on Facebook—Venmo and PayPal tip jars available. Sundays find Mr. Brey streaming live on Facebook at 7:30 pm EST.
• Lucas Brown hits Instagram for an hour set every Sunday at 11:15.
• Emmet Cohen continues his Live From Emmet's Place! every Monday at 7:30 EST with Russell Hall and Kyle Poole.
• Dena DeRose just released her new album Ode to the Road with Martin Wind, Matt Wilson, Sheila Jordan, Houston Person and Jeremy Pelt.
• John di Martino promotes his new album Passion Flower: The Music of Billy Strayhorn.
• Lafayette Gilchrist performs live streaming concerts at An Die Musik Live June 12 & June 28.
• Patricia and Orlando Haddad offer live Facebook Minas concerts at 7pm EST on June 4, 11, 18 and 25.
• Connie Han releases her Iron Starlet album on June 12.
• Tamir Hendelman continues his At Home series every Saturday at 9pm EST.
• Fred Hersch and Esperanza Spalding support Jazz Foundation of America’s COVID-19 Musicians’ Emergency Fund through the release of Live At The Village Vanguard—Rough Mix EP: A Benefit Recording For The Jazz Foundation Of America. Available through June for $17.
• Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra present Virtual Birdland on Sundays at 8:30pm EST.
• Roberta Piket performs a live-stream concert with Billy Mintz at the Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 16th at 7pm EST.
• Spike Wilner announces the resumption of free live-streaming from Smalls. The SmallsLIVE Foundation offers an archive of over 16,000 online shows at Smalls and Mezzrow. Support this important mission.
• Glenn Zaleski offers performances and teaching on Patreon.

IN CLOSING:

Today’s horrors are sickeningly familiar, perpetuating a history many of us fail to fully recognize. Racism, inequality and injustice are as American as apple pie. What’s new is the proliferation of smart phones to document these daily outrages and affronts to our common humanity: Ahmaud Arbery, Christian Cooper, George Floyd. Real-time incontrovertible evidence forces us to see, challenging our conscience and the legitimacy of our institutions and social order. The words “I can’t breathe” connect us viscerally to what’s at stake. No breath, no life. No breath, no music.

We cannot continue to live as we have lived. Turn on all the cameras. Let us see all our inequities and hypocrisies. Let us reform our contracts with one another to fulfill avowed precepts of equality, life, liberty, happiness. Black lives are essential. Black music is essential. Like love, compassion, breath, exuberance.

wishing us well,
Matt


Jazz pianists: Please send notices for July webcasts by month’s end.

exuberance online

We’re missing you here on Mascher St. 

When we offered piano jazz without distractions, we didn’t imagine a distraction as implacable as COVID-19. Neither did the pianists we presented and planned to present. Artists whose livelihoods rely on itinerant performances live in economic peril, while we are missing the music.

We didn’t invent exuberance. We were just promoting it. Today, exuberance is found and resounds online.

In the case of Ted Rosenthal, that is daily. Find his beautiful posts on Facebook. 
Piano jazz master Fred Hersch does the same on his FB page.

Emmet Cohen enlists Russell Hall and Kyle Poole every Monday at 7:30 EST for trio sets at Emmet’s.
Tamir Hendelman claims Saturdays for his weekly sets. 
Arturo O’Farrill holds down Sundays at 8:30 EST for Virtual Birdland with his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Unbelievably great.

On May 25, Sumi Tonooka curates a stellar Act4Music online piano jazz concert featuring Ms. Tonooka, Billy McCoy, Michelle Rosewoman and the incomparable Kenny Barron. 

Her release follows previous Act4Music curations by Orrin Evans and Luke Carlos O’Reilly. Those sets and many more are available online, and you set your own price for access.

You can learn about more online jazz programming by consulting Jazz at Lincoln Center’s updated list of jazz concert livestreams and the All About Jazz livestream jazz calendar.

Please patronize these artists, experience exuberance, and channel compassion.

wishing you well,
Matt
exuberancemusic.com

Tyler Blanton & Helio Alves

Tyler Blanton and Helio Alves were supposed to appear here @exuberance yesterday. COVID-19 demanded otherwise. Check out a taste of what we missed.

salons suspended

Bringing people together in the name of piano jazz without distractions has been our passion for the past three and a half years. In the age of COVID-19, bringing people together turns out to be a potentially deadly thing to do. @exuberance, we are all about affirming life, just as our music does. Thus we are regretfully suspending our salons until such time as it is clearly safe to resume them. Say au revoir, but not goodbye. We look forward to that resumption.

To date, we have welcomed over 3200 attentive guests to hear over 150 extraordinary jazz artists in 63 piano jazz salons. The 50 pianists who have performed @exuberance:

Farid Barron
Bruce Barth
Ran Blake
Joseph Block
Mike Bond
Tim Brey
Alex Brown
Lucas Brown
Uri Caine
Bob Cohen
Emmet Cohen
John Colianni
Zaccai Curtis
Harold Danko
John di Martino
Chano Domínguez
Orrin Evans
Sullivan Fortner
Rick Germanson
Lafayette Gilchrist
Aaron Goldberg
Benito Gonzalez
Dayramir González
Aaron Graves
Patricia Haddad
Connie Han
Tamir Hendelman
Geoffrey Keezer
Dave Kikoski
Terry Klinefelter
Tom Lawton
Shai Maestro
Dan Nimmer
Luke Carlos O’Reilly
Aaron Parks
Luis Perdomo
Roberta Piket
Ted Rosenthal
ArcoIris Sandoval
Matt Savage
Micah Thomas
Isaiah J. Thompson
Sumi Tonooka
Axel Tosca
Ariacne Trujillo
Elio Villanfranca
Kenny Werner
Spike Wilner
Ben Winkelman
Glenn Zaleski

@exuberance reverberates with the sounds, creative collaboration and positive energies of these artists. Thank you for your attentive attendance and generous support. This music is a tonic for our times. May it sustain us as we anticipate the resurrection of our piano jazz salons.

wishing you well,
Matt
exuberancemusic.com

salon #65: Tyler Blanton & Helio Alves (April 4)

Get ready for sounds of Brazil @exuberance.

Tyler Blanton discovered Gary Burton and Milt Jackson in music school and found his instrument. A vibraphonist and composer, Tyler teaches and tours around the world and performs in distinctly varied contexts. His last album as leader Sense of Place finds him swinging hard with Drew Gress, Johnathan Blake and Jon Cowherd. He’s a founding member of the electro-funk Hornē Electric Band. He plays with Donny McCaslin, Nate Wood, Ari Hoenig, Anthony Pinciotti and Rick Rosato among others. For his visit to @exuberance, Mr. Blanton joins forces with a venerable Brazilian pianist.

Helio Alves combines the rhythmic complexity of modern Brazilian music with the energy of contemporary jazz. Since his move from São Paulo to NYC in the '90s, Alves has worked with Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Sadao Watanabe, Slide Hampton, Airto Moreira & Flora Purim, Paquito D'Rivera, Joyce, and Rosa Passos to name a few. I saw him for an unforgettable evening at Dizzy’s with Vinicius Cantuária. Among his albums as leader: Trios, Portrait in Black & White, It's Clear and Musica—featuring Antonio Sanchez, Reuben Rogers, Claudio Roditi and Romero Lubambo. 

Edward Perez returns to @exuberance having appeared here once with Arturo Stable, and again with Ralph Peterson. Equally at home in a number of genres, Perez has worked with Lee Konitz, Kenny Werner, Lionel Loueke, Mark Murphy and Mark Turner; Latin-jazz giants Paquito D'Rivera, Ignacio Berroa, Arturo O'Farrill and Hector Martignon; Afro-Peruvian musicians Eva Ayllón, Juan Medrano Cotito, and Julio "Chocolate" Algendones; Colombian songstress Lucia Pulido. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by The Silkroad Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma, Galician gaita powerhouse Cristina Pato, Latin-jazz legend Ignacio Berroa, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, Latin Grammy-nominated Peruvian singer Jorge Pardo, oud phenom Kenan Adnawi, and many more.

Drummer and percussionist Duduka Da Fonseca was born in Rio de Janeiro. He was playing drums at 12, and by the age of 15 was performing with some of the most experienced musicians in Brazil. In 1975, Da Fonseca moved to New York where his career flourished playing with such ensembles as Brazilian Express, New York Samba Band, and the Brazilian All Stars. Along the way, Da Fonseca was a faculty member at the Drummers Collective in New York and has conducted workshops in Japan and Europe. He is also the author of the instructional book and tape set Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset. Over his career, Da Fonseca has performed and recorded with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Herbie Mann, John Scofield, Gerry Mulligan, Joe Henderson, and many others. In 1992, he co-founded Trio da Paz with guitarist Romero Lubambo and bassist Nilson Matta. They have several releases on the Malandro label.

This A-list ensemble will explore a range of Brazilian compositions, both familiar and obscure, uniquely arranged for the group's instrumentation and sense of interplay. Plan on joining us.

Tyler Blanton & Helio Alves
8-11pm Saturday, April 4
1220 N. Mascher St. (steps away from the Girard Ave. El stop) [map]

We contemplate a $30 donation to support the musicians and provide appropriate refreshments. Cash only, please.

Click RSVP to this invitation to get on the guest list. Invitation expires when we reach 85 attendees. Looking forward to seeing you.

Matt Yaple

- - - - -

@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.