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Saxophone master Buck Hill heads
a full bill of holiday jazz shows
this month.
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Holiday jazz treats abound this December, with Buck Hill, Tim Warfield and Ramsey Lewis and others helping us ring in the season.
Hill, the living legend saxophone master who has been pretty busy of late despite his 80 years of age, heads the bill for “Buck's Jazz Night Family Christmas Jam” Dec. 26 at Westminster Presbyterian Church. He had a date at the church a couple of months back and entertained a good crowd at Twins Jazz in late October.
His golden tenor sound has been in vintage form and that promises a festive time at the church this month, with veteran pianist Wade Beach just one of the players scheduled to play with him.
Also providing cheer is NPR’s “A Piano Jazz Christmas,” Dec. 11, at the Kennedy Center. Featured will be Dr. Billy Taylor, Ramsey Lewis, Patricia Barber, Eldar and Robert Glasper.
Certainly one of the classic Christmas recordings is Lewis’ “Sound of Christmas,” a 1961 Chess Records production. Yes, I still have the actual “record” after years and years of moving from place to place and offloading tons of records to friends and family because I had so many I just couldn’t keep them all with me.
But that recording has survived decades of such moves. It was just so special and always brought back so many memories of holidays past and family and friends and days gone by. It also brings back the memory of seeing Lewis play a couple of times over the years, the ultimate treat.
The record has the original Lewis group, with him on piano, El Dee Young on bass and Red Holt on drums, with strings helping out. If you are not fortunate to already have it, see if you can find it on CD. “Merry Christmas Baby,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Christmas Blues,” “Sleigh Ride,” and “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” are all swinging and all timeless.
Also billing holiday shows are Bohemian Caverns with Tim Warfield and Stefon Harris Dec. 11-12, the Redd Brothers, Chuck and Robert, at Blues Alley Dec. 16, and wrapping it up are Ahmad Jamal at Blues Alley and John Pizzarelli at the Kennedy Center for New Year’s Eve shows Dec. 31.
Jazz at The Madison Needs You
Elana Byrd, who has helped book shows at The Madison, lets us know that the Jazz at the Madison series needs patrons. As she says, “For those of you in the DC area, we ask that you support Jazz at The Madison and Piano Jazz at The Madison to ensure its continuation! No kidding! Our monthly jazz concerts have consistently sold out, but Piano Jazz, new in July, has not had enough support and could go the way of so many jazz series in the area.” See jazzatthemadison.com.
Caught: Karen Lovejoy
Stopped in at Twins last month to see Karen Lovejoy’s second CD release party for her “Spellbound” recording, and it was, as always, a gem of an evening hearing Lovejoy perform and also bittersweet because we don’t see enough of her.
Always with a commanding, attractive presence and a bluesy, beguiling and sometimes playful delivery, Lovejoy that night entranced especially on “Satisfied ‘N’ Tickled Too,” a Mississippi John Hurt recording. Yes, that’s a classic blues performer, but when someone like Lovejoy handles a song, genres and categories blur, and it’s just good sounds, call it what you want, a jazz blues mixture, a little country blues and funk rolled in for good measure, it doesn’t matter.
She turned it into a sensual journey of all the joys and pleasures of being in love for those precious minutes. Get the recording and you get an idea, but try to catch her at one of her all too infrequent appearances, and you get the full effect, of an artist in full bloom.
December Birthdays: Wynton Kelly 2; Jim Hall 4; Dave Brubeck, Frankie Dunlop 5; Jimmy Smith 8; Donald Byrd 9; Ray Nance 10; McCoy Tyner 11; Tony Williams 12; Clark Terry, Cecil Payne 14; Sy Oliver 17; Fletcher Henderson 18; Chet Baker 23; Baby Dodds 24; Cab Calloway, Don Pullen 25; Earl Hines 28;
December Highlights: Michael Thomas Quintet, Dec. 4-5, Twins Jazz ... Blues Alley Youth Jazz orchestra, Dec. 7, Blues Alley ... NPR's A Piano Jazz Christmas, Dec. 11, Kennedy Center ... Cheryl Jones, Wayne Wilentz, Ronnie Wells Legacy, Dec. 11, Westminster Church ... Tim Warfield, Stefon Harris, Dec. 11-2, Bohemian Caverns ... Don Braden, Dec. 14, Blues Alley ... The Redd Brothers, Dec. 16, Blues Alley ... Denine Wilson, Dec. 17, Twins Jazz ... Dianne Reeves, Dec. 18, Kennedy Center ... Dick Morgan, Dec. 23, Blues Alley ... Elijah Jamal, Alex Brown, Dec. 26, Twins Jazz ... Buck Hill, Wade Beach, Buck's Jazz Night Family Christmas Jam, Dec. 26, Westminster Church ... Ahmad Jamal, Dec. 26-30, Blues Alley ... John Pizzarelli, A Jazz New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, Kennedy Center ... |
