Thanks to Todd Bishop from Cruiseship Drummer! who posted this footage of Mel Lewis from a masterclass at the University of North Texas circa. 1982. This is from the same series of videos of Elvin Jones at UNT that I shared last month (in case the embedded video doesn't work, follow this link instead).
Thank you to Casey Schmidt who shared this incredible footage of Arthur Taylor playing at the Village Vanguard (up close and personal!) via the Instagram.
Frequent Four on the Floor correspondent Tim Mah returns once again, offering his extensive yearly list of recommended music released by Canadian jazz artists over the course of 2021. As you will see, read and hear below, there continues to be lots of great music coming out of Canada these days.
Tim's weekly radio program Jazz Today can be heard on CJSW Radio 90.9 fm (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) on Thursday mornings from 530-7am MST. It is also streamed on the CJSW website and available through Apple Podcasts.
The blog post included sentences such as “Jazz died in 1959” and “Jazz is dead.” It also included “Our whole purpose on this planet is to evolve.” and “I say, we are as limited as we think.” The post was controversial and continues to be controversial to some people. Some have interpreted this post as saying that jazz music is dead and others have perpetuated this false narrative. Some people have exploited the phrase “jazz is dead” by using this as a marketing tool.
My interpretation is that Nicholas Payton said (and continues to say) that the word jazz is no longer appropriate. The music that he creates is part of the evolution of the music. He advocates the term “Black American music” instead of the word “jazz” – Black American music is a broader term and recognizes that this music continues to grow. Ten years later, the term “Black American music” is more widely accepted.
As quoted in Nate Chinen’s 2018 book called “Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century,” Kamasi Washington said: “I’ve never believed in the idea that jazz is dying and people don’t like it. People who have taken the time to investigate jazz, they like it for their whole lives.”
To quote the final sentence in the afterword of “Playing Changes,” Nate Chinen said: “The music will flow and fluctuate, keep going. And where to? Anywhere. It just happens.”
The music continues to grow and inspire. Whether you call it jazz, Black American music, social music, improvised music, creative music, stretch music...It’s all about the music.
Year in Review
As 2021 draws to a close, it is a great time to take stock of all of the new music that was released during the last twelve months. There was an abundance of new music from Canadians, starting with music form Toronto’s Jesse Ryan (“Bridges”) in December 2020 and closing with a flurry of new releases in November 2021, including Toronto’s Carn Davidson 9 (“The History of Us”) and Montreal’s Benjamin Deschamps (“Augmented Reality”). Toronto and Montreal-based artists continue make up the majority of the new releases.
Given the 2021 Juno award winners in the jazz music categories (Sammy Jackson, Jocelyn Gould and Andy Milne), could we be seeing a change towards more diversity?
Some artists (Good Information, Andrew Miller and Jacob Wutzke) released singles only, choosing not to release a full album during the year. Caity Gyorgy released a series of singles over the last two years, culminating in the release of her January 2021 self-released album “No Bounds” and July 2021 album “Now Pronouncing” (released by the Brooklyn-based label, La Reserve Records). Could we see more jazz musicians emphasize the releasing more singles before releasing albums, as is the common practice in the popular music world?
There were several solo instrumental albums released during the year, including albums from Sam Wilson, Jessica Ackerley, Francois Bourassa, Josh Rager, Erin Rogers, Matthew Stevens and Noam Lemish. Will this trend continue going forward, or was this a pandemic-only trend?
Looking ahead to 2022
Expect new albums from Laura Anglade & Sam Kirmayer, Caity Gyorgy, Florian Hoefner, Jodi Proznick, Michelle Willis, Seamus Blake, In Common (co-led by Matthew Stevens and Walter Smith III - the third In Common album features Kris Davis, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dave Holland), Tania Gill, Dolman/Rossy/Jobin (Aaron Dolman, Sarah Rossy and Eugenie Jobin), and the Up and Over Trio (Chris Andrew, Rubim de Toledo and Jamie Cooper).
2021 Albums from Canadians
The purpose of this guest post is to bring more attention to Canadian artists. As fans of this music, our role is to be an advocate for the music. Below is a list of my favourite 30 albums, released from December 2020 to November 2021, and led (or co-led) by Canadians.
Anna Webber “Idiom”
This two disc album features Anna Webber’s Simple Trio and her Large Ensemble. This is a recording of Anna Webber’s Simple Trio and Idiom VI Large Ensemble concert at Roulette in Brooklyn (September 23, 2021). The music begins at about the ten minute mark: https://youtu.be/N9bLpk0zfcs
Renee Rosnes “Kinds of Love”
Kinds of Love
Amanda Tosoff “Earth Voices”
Birdwings (poem by Rumi)
Chet Doxas “You Can’t Take It With You”
You Can’t Take It With You
Steph Richards (with Joshua White) “Zephyr”
Zephyr
Andres Vial “When is Ancient?”
When is Ancient?
Benjamin Deschamps “Augmented Reality”
Augmented Reality
CODE Quartet (Christine Jensen, Lex French, Adrian Vedady & Jim Doxas) “Genealogy”
Wind Up
Carn Davidson 9 “The History of Us”
Wisely If Sincerely
Dan McCarthy (with Thomas Morgan & Rudy Royston) “A Place Where We Once Lived”
Cloud Hopping
Lina Allemano Four “Vegetables” (feat. Brodie West, Andrew Downing & Nick Fraser)
Beans (Alternate Take)
Badbadnotgood “Talk Memory”
Talk Meaning
Erin Rogers “2000 Miles”
Waxing (Home I)
Nick Fraser Quartet “If There Were No Opposites”
Improvisation (Part 1)
Francois Bourassa “L’impact du silence”
Andante
Evan Arntzen “Countermelody”
Georgia Cabin
Josh Rager “Embraceable You”
You Stepped Out of a Dream
Lara Solnicki “The One and the Other”
Furling Leaf Retrocede
Lorne Lofsky “This Song is New”
Evans from Lennie
Matthew Stevens “Pittsburgh”
Foreign Ghosts
Sam Wilson “Into a Heart, Part Two”
Mourning Motivation
Jessica Ackerley “Morning / mourning”
Morning 2
Jessica Ackerley and Daniel Carter “Friendship: Lucid Shared Dreams and Time Travel”
Welcome Our Friends
Borderlands Trio (Kris Davis, Stephan Crump & Eric McPherson) “Wandersphere”
An Invitation to Disappear
Beth McKenna “Beyond Here”
Tides
Avataar “Worldview”
Worldview
Misc. (Jerome Beaulieu, Simon Page & William Cote) “Partager l’ambulance”
X-ALT
Alex Lefaivre Quartet “Naufrages”
Reset
Jesse Ryan “Bridges”
Bridges
Le Jager “Snow Lotus”
Proclamacion
There was an abundance of new releases from Canadians over the last twelve months. Check out the following list (in alphabetical order) of 40 more Canadian artists with new releases that you can check out.
Andrew Downing & Otterville “Lovesome”
BLOOP (Lina Allemano & Mike Smith) “Proof”
BPM Trio (Phil Dwyer, Ben Dwyer & Mark Adam) “Audi Alteram Partem (Live)”
Carl Mayotte “Pop de Ville, Vol. 1”
Caity Gyorgy “No Bounds” and “Now Pronouncing”
Cory Weeds with Strings “What is There to Say?”
Dan Pitt Quintet “Wrongs”
Dave Young “Mantra”
David Restivo Trio “Arancina”
Earl MacDonald “Consecrated”
Elizabeth Shepherd & Michael Occhipinti “The Weight of Hope”
Emily Steinwall “Welcome to the Garden”
Erin Propp & Larry Roy “We Want All The Same Things”
Gabriel Genest Quintet “Triptyque”
Gordon Grdina “Pendulum,” “Martian Kitties" (featuring Jim Black) and “Klotski"(featuring Christian Lillinger, Shahzad Ismaily, and Mat Maneri)
Hanlon Brothers Quintet “NSTX”
James Danderfer & Quincy Davis “All The Flowers” (feat. Oliver Gannon, Brad Turner & Karl Kohut)
Jazzlab Orchestra “Loguslabusmuzikus”
Jester Champwick (Curtis Nowosad & Joel Visentin) “Homework”
Jocelyn Barth “Tell Him I Said Hello”
Joel Untinen Trio “Facing Paradise”
Julien Fillion “Julien Fillion”
Kellylee Evans “Greenlight”
Kevin Dean “Going Down Slow”
L’abime (Hugo Blouin, Alex Dodier, Gabriel Genest, Jean-Philippe Godbout & Jonathan Turgeon) “L’abime”
Levi Dover “Imaginary Structures”
Lina Allemano & Nick Fraser “Trumpet and Drums Remix Festival”
Mark Eisenman “Jazz Classics” (feat. Steve Wallace & John Sumner)
Mireille Boily “Refuges Mouvants”
Montreal Jazz Trio (Steve Amirault, Adrian Vedady, Jim Doxas) “Montreal Jazz Trio”
Noam Lemish “Erlebnisse”
Oscar Peterson Quartet “A Time for Love: Live in Helsinki, 1987”
Philippe Cote with Marc Copland & Quatuor Saguenay “Bell Tolls Revisited” and “Fleur Revisited”
Pluto Juice (co-led by Anthony Fung and Dayna Stephens; with Rich Brown and Andrew Marzotto) “Pluto Juice”
Sarah Jerrom “Dream Logic” (feat. Harley Card, Rob McBride & Jeff Luciani)
See Through 4 (Pete Johnston, Lina Allemano, Michael Davidson & Jake Oelrichs) “Permanent Moving Parts”
Thanks everyone for checking in during the holiday season. Here is the final Monday Morning Paradiddle column of the year (and oh what a year it's been...)
Stay tuned as later this week frequent guest columnist Tim Mah, host of CJSW's weekly radio program Jazz Today, will be offering his annual choices for notable Canadian jazz releases of 2021.
Thanks again for your ongoing support.
Onwards and upwards in the year ahead 2022.
Stay safe everyone and keep your eye on the prize.
*Just a quick reminder: please consider entering your e.mail address on the right side of the page to subscribe to my mailing list. Don't miss out, subscribe today and receive Four on the Floor directly to your inbox!*
*Click on the link that looks like this, located on the right hand side of the page!*
Okay, so here we are.
Here's a list of interesting and thought provoking pieces to check out and keep you occupied and inspired over the holiday break as we head into the year ahead. Please enjoy.
4) Check out this rare and unique recording of Kenny Clarke on the album Spotlight on Percussion:
If you visit this website and click on the links you'll be able to hear some great unaccompanied recorded audio footage of Klook playing the snare drum.
5) Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle interviews Ron Carter, continuing his incredible podcast series "The Art and Science of Time":
6) Two interviews with Jabali Billy Hart from Jake Feinberg and WPFW Radio:
7) Joe Chambers interviewed by Samo Salamon:
8) Ali Jackson Jr. recently released his wonderful instructional series through jazzmemes.org entitled Universe of Grooves:
I've purchased his new series and there is lots of great and very informative material to practice and learn from in here.
Also check out this wonderful feature from Jackson on the late Barry Harris:
9) Antonio Sanchez with his interpretation of Thelonious Monk's Evidence:
10) Quincy Davis continues with his wonderful Q-Tips educational series on YouTube. As always, these are very informative and well done.
Check these out and learn from the best:
11) Willie Jones III percussive tribute to the late Ndugu Chancler on Something for Ndugu::
12) Berklee's Francsico Mela and vibraphonist Ed Saindon with a duet on Alone Together:
13) A couple of cool timekeeping clips from the always inspiring Allison Miller:
14) Kevin Dorn offers some insight into the hi-hat techniques of Jo Jones and Gene Krupa:
15) Thanks to the Drum History Podcast who posted this short clip of Dave Mancini with the Maynard Ferguson big band at the Playboy Jazz Festival circa. 1982:
Dave was my teacher at the International Peace Gardens during the summer of 1993 and it was with his help and encouragement that started me on my journey to where I am today.
Thanks Dave!
16) A great clip of vibraphonist Terry Gibbs with Barry Harris (piano), Alan Dawson (drums) and Sam Jones (bass):
17) A fun early animation from Muppets and Sesame Street creator Jim Henson featuring Chico Hamilton on solo drums:
Purchase his wonderful new publication and his other book The Stoic Drummer through The Revival Drumshop.
19) What am I listening to these days?
Phineas Newborn Jr. "We Three" - Roy Haynes (drums)
Antonio Sanchez "Three Times Three" - Antonio Sanchez (drums)
Rich Perry "Beautiful Love" - Victor Lewis (drums)
Morgan Childs Quartet "On the Street of Dreams" - Morgan Childs (drums)
Neil Swainson "49th Parallel" - Jerry Fuller (drums)
Steve Swallow "Damaged in Transit" - Bill Stewart (drums)
Max Richter "SLEEP"
20) And today's Final Word goes to Dan Weiss with a wonderful piece of advice given to him via his teacher during a summer jazz workshop he attended at the Berklee College of Music, shared with us via one of Dan's many inspiring and informative daily shares on Instagram:
*Please note that I read this one very quickly on IG awhile ago so I am paraphrasing as best I can so the wording is not exact Lol but it's an important message on the art of discipline nevertheless...thanks Dan!*
"If you are serious about wanting to be a musician you have to:
This is a blog about jazz, jazz drumming and all things unrelated. Thanks for stopping by!
A Bit About Me...
Jonathan McCaslin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jonathan began playing the drums at the age of nine. He progressed through the Regina Lions Junior Band and the music program at his high school, Campbell Collegiate, soon developing a passion for playing the drums and jazz. Ultimately, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999.
While at McGill Jon had the opportunity to study with some of the finest jazz educators in the country including Gordon Foote, Kevin Dean, Jan Jarcyzk, Chris McCann, Andre White, Michel Lambert and Dave Laing. He also attended the prestigious summer jazz workshop presented by the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1997, where he performed with Canadian jazz greats Hugh Fraser, Don Thompson and Kenny Wheeler.
Jon has also been fortunate to have performed with many of Canada's jazz elite including Charlie Biddle, Brian Hurley, Louise Rose, Alaister Kay, Mart Kinny, Gary Guthman, Mike Rud, Hadley Caliman, Greg Clayton, Chase Sanborn, Andre White, Tilden Webb, John LaBelle, Kevin Dean, Dave Turner, Ralph Bowen, Don Thompson, Dionne Taylor, Jim Vivian, Kelly Jefferson, Ian McDougall, Brad Turner, Jim Brenan, The McGill Jazz Orchestra, Jeff Johnston, Lorraine Desmerais, Steve Amirault, Hugh Fraser, Chucho Valdes, Kieran Overs, The Altsys Jazz Orchestra, Pat LaBarbera, The Regina Symphony Orchestra and The Montreal Jazz Big Band.
In the spring of 2002 McCaslin completed his Master's in Jazz Studies at McGill University where he studied jazz drumming, improvisation and composition.
In January 2003 Jon released his debut CD, “McCallum’s Island”. Featuring his quintet, the CD contains an exciting collection of McCaslin’s original compositions, featuring himself and his band. The release of this CD was followed by a twenty-day tour of Western Canada, performing to enthusiastic, capacity audiences. During March of 2003 Jonathan was the recipient of a fellowship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and attended the “Betty Carter Jazz Ahead” residency in Washington, D.C. Along with twenty other distinguished young jazz artists, McCaslin was featured with such jazz icons as Terence Blanchard, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, Curtis Fuller and John Clayton.
McCaslin’s quintet performed at the 2003 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival and was nominated for the General Motors Grand Prix du Festival (awarded to the most outstanding Canadian group). From 2004 until 2006, Jon toured North America, Asia and Europe with the high-energy, critically acclaimed music production troupe “Barrage”. Featuring a cast of seven world-class fiddlers and a four-piece band, this dynamic show featured high-energy music and fiddle traditions from around the world set to upbeat choreography and movement.
In 2015, Dr. McCaslin received his Doctorate through the University of Toronto and completed his dissertation on the conceptualization of contemporary melodic jazz drumming. He is currently based in Calgary, Alberta where he maintains a busy performing and teaching schedule across Canada.
