Paul Read News

It’s mid-April and I have a few weeks before some scheduled rehearsals for a recording with the jazz orchestra (PRO) Paul Read Orchestra. And I am ‘jumped’. What an ideal situation to have some time to write new music for top flight players to play and record…..and yet. Work has been much slower than I expected. Fellow composers know what I’m talking about. I’ve written a good number of compositions in my life, but the process always seems to be slower than expected….WHY? I mentioned the slowness of it all to my pal and wonderful composer, Mike Malone, and he said the slowest one is always the one we are working on. I’m writing a piece at the moment that is unusual in a few aspects. It has two themes….complexity isn’t always a good thing, but this one just came out that way. Actually I think it is a long and well developed introduction to a shorter, more lyrical theme. Another friend found theme one angular and theme two lyrical. Sounds good to me. But then I seem to have so much material to develop and for many reasons, I want to feature drums in the course of things…not just 8’s with the band, or a chorus, or even an open (break the form) way. Anyway, I wrestle with this and bare my soul with the hope in writing about it I might find some clarity and focus. (This is helping, believe it or not).

At any rate, PRO’s first recording, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts with support for composing coming from the Toronto Arts Council, has been both a challenge and reward. At the moment, one more than the other.

The Paul Read Orchestra is booked to appear next at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival on Canada Day, July 1 at Nathan Philips Square in one of the free noontime concert series. Hope you’ll put it on your calendar.

‘mout

Weather Report sounds better than ever! I mean dig out your vinyl or even dust off any cd releases and check (re-check) what this band was doing in the 1970s and 80s. There is also a marvelous website at http://www.binkie.net/wrdisc/index.html that gives a wonderful amount of background and notes on each of the releases. All this because I decided to play “Black Market” the other day and found it wonderfully fresh. I haven’t listened to it in years. Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, the nucleus of the group and the constants through a myriad of change in drums and bass players, found a profound way of communicating across cultural, philosophical and aesthetic borders. Another amazement is the unique voice they created- and maintained – even when the entire rest of the band had changed. Check out the wonderful notes for Tale Spinnin’ that tell a lot about the recording process and the changes in personnel.

Have just been listening to two classic recordings. Thad Jones/Mel Lewis playing Kids are Pretty People (1969) on Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard and also Miles Davis’ group of the decades, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams playing All Blues on You Tube. There is much music that can be said to have reached this level, but no one has surpassed this music in any genre and at any point in history. How’s that for going out on a limb? But seriously check it out. Maybe this is only in the mind of someone who grew up with this music and placed high on a pedestal. But I love this music…

Next Monday, January 11:

PRO (The Paul Read Orchestra)
The Rex
194 Queen St. W
9:30 p.m.

LEADER/COMPOSER/ARRANGER: Paul Read
TRUMPETS: Jason Logue, Chase Sanborn, Lina Allemano, Jim Lewis
TROMBONES: Terry Promane, William Carn, Andrew Jones, Larry Shields
REEDS: Andy Ballantyne, Tara Davidson, Alex Dean, Trent Reschny, Dave Neill
GUITAR: David Occhipinti
PIANO: David Braid
BASS: Dan Fortin
DRUMS: Kevin Dempsey

NPR is a staple of our travels when we are in the US. My wife and I automatically scan the low end of the dial on the car radio to find the closest station and find it the most intelligent, informative and entertaining of all other available content. Now NPR provides many other options to those of us who listen and enjoy. There is an iPhone app that allows you to get the latest news and hear specific program, and also – the point of this entry – A Blog Supreme. Check out the description:

“So for NPR’s A Blog Supreme, we asked seven young jazz fans — none older than 24 — to write their introductions to modern jazz. Considered together, they run five promising jazz Web sites: Search and Restore, a live jazz information hub for New York City; Nextbop, a site with music and profiles of exciting new artists; RVAJazz, which tracks the burgeoning creative music scene in Richmond, Va.; Lubricity, a jazz blog penned by a historian in training; and AccuJazz, “the future of jazz radio.” These folks represent the jazz audience of the future — so who better to tell us about Jazz Now?”

Really worth checking out.
P