Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Neko Case @ First City Festival, Monterey, CA

 

Debuting songs from her upcoming release, "The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You" (out September 3rd), alongside selections from past albums, Neko Case played to a full crowd of fans Sunday evening at the inaugural First City Festival.
  

Particular highlights from the night included "This Tornado Loves You" and "That Teenage Feeling", as well as her covers of the Shangri-Las "Train from Kansas City" and Lisa Marr's "In California".  Overall, the hour plus set demonstrated Ms. Case's wide-ranging talent, showcasing her ability to be both vulnerable and emotion and strong and aggressive with her vocal delivery. 

 
The event, which took place at the history Monterey Fairgrounds (home to the long running Monterey Jazz Festival taking place next month), brought a mix of up-and-coming bands such as the Los Angeles-based Electric Guest alongside indie legends Modest Mouse. 
 


Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Best of Marian McPartland on YouTube

I've spent the better part of the day listening to old episodes of NPR's Piano Jazz. I highly recommend tracking down the Willie Nelson episode, which is such a fun and unexpected pairing of legends. And if you are in the mood for some great bass, check out the Ron Carter and Esperenza Spaulding shows. You can't go wrong. Here are some clips of various interviews and performances with Marian throughout the years.






Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Remembering Marian McPartland, 1918-2013


I woke up to the news this morning that Marian McPartland had passed away at her home in Long Island, New York.  She was 95.  Marian was no doubt one of my biggest music inspirations, and I will always remember with the highest regard the first time I heard her show, and then, many years later, the first (and only) time I was fortunate enough to see her play.
Although I am a huge fan today, I did not grow up listening to jazz, and much of my exposure to the genre did not come until my late teens when I began to explore music beyond the rock and folk I grew up with.  Around this same time, during my first summer home from being away at college, I heard Marian’s Piano Jazz, and through the show I was educated and introduced to many new artists.  With her comforting British accent, Marian talked to her guests like they were old friends catching up on lost conversation.  And in large part, these were in fact long-time friends of hers.  The guests and her swapped stories about shows played at The Hickory House, where Marian enjoyed a long standing residency from 1952 to 1960, and gave us listeners a taste of what it was like to live and play in an era where thriving jazz clubs scattered the streets of New York City.  This intimacy set Piano Jazz apart from any other show I’d heard before.  It was like listening to my grandmother telling stories from her youth, if my grandmother grew up alongside the likes of Dizzy, Mingus, and Monk, instead of on a Midwest farm.  I fell in love with it all.  “Shall we play that one together?” she would say to her guest.  And so began the music that was beloved by her many listeners and fans for decades on end. 

I saw Marian play at Yoshi’s, a jazz club in Oakland, California, in 2007.  It was shortly after she turned 89, but you would not have a sense of her age by the way she played.  Though she used a walker to help her get around onstage, she led her trio through two solid sets of her own compositions and jazz standards.  She didn’t miss a beat.  I was obviously thrilled to be seeing one of my heroes, and throughout the night, kept thinking to myself, “Damn, if we could all be so lucky—to not only be alive and in good health at 89, but to be leading a band of men half her age with such strength and grace.”  What a gal, that Marian McPartland. 
In recent years (through the help of her grandchildren), Marian maintained an active presence on Facebook.  She posted many pictures and videos of her peers, and fortunate for us, used it as a way to communicate with her fans.  I shared this blog with her, particularly the posts in which she was highlighted in the entries about women and jazz music.  I am happy to say that she read them, and replied to me that she enjoyed them.  I am grateful for her many years as a dedicated host, and for all of the knowledge of jazz she imparted on me and other listeners.  And thankfully, in the digital age we live in, there are hours upon hours of archived shows available for us to listen to.  She may be gone, but her music lives on.