This morning I did something I haven’t done for a long time. I checked All About Jazz for today‘s jazz musicians born on this date. As I scrolled down the list I really didn’t see any one that interested me. Now I’m sure that if I researched a few of these musicians I’d find some really good jazz musician. Anyway I chose to check out the birthdays from yesterday.
I really started to explore jazz more in 2014. Prior to that time I had a few favorites I listened to regularly. Those artists included mostly Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith and occasionally Freddie Hubbard and McCoy TYner. When I set out to expand my jazz listening I would review both the Jazz Charts at both the Roots Music Report and JazzWeek. Additionally, I would review the Jazz Birthday Page at All About Jazz.
Fusetar (eng.“fusion”, “tar” – farsi. “strings” – fusion of strings). This three-necked instrument represents the culmination of his sound experiments in search of a mode of expression of his new musical concepts. The fusion of Setar, flamenco guitar, and fretless guitar
Now the reason that this Iranian born musician created the Fusetar was to fuse the musical traditions of Iran and Spain by combining them into his own expression of Persian and Flamenco fusion. He has named the fusion of any ethnic music style with Spanish flamenco Ethnoflamenco.
Here’s what Shahab says about music:
Music is the common language and element that connects all people, nations and races together without borders. Musicians are citizens of the borderless world, and they create the best way of expression without fighting. These are the gifts that music brings to us all.
Now if you have read this blog before you know that I am in total agreement with that sentiment!!
After Shahab finished high school he left Iran and went to Seville Spain. While in Spain he completed the flamenco master course and attained the highest level of achievement “Nivel Alto” Returning to Iran Shahab was recognized as one as the best guitar players in his homeland by The House of Music of Iran”
The style he has created by fusing Flamenco and Persian music “Ethnoflamenco” also uses lyrics from the ancient Sufi poems of Moulana Rumi, the unique Ghazals of Hafez and the poems of Ferdousi. In addition, as a multi-instrumentalist, he incorporates different traditional Persian instruments such as the Setar, Laud, Mandola, Daf and Dammam, along with the Flamenco Guitar, into his compositions.
Ok I can see I will be off to explore some of those traditional Persian instruments and the people who play them!!
I listened this morning to Shahab’s 2009 release
Tango Perso
On this day, August 6, 1957 vibraphonist and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Hedrick Meurkens was born to Dutch parents in Hamburg, Germany. Meurkens was listed on today’s birthday list at All About Jazz as a harmonica player . When I went to Spotify to listen to his music, I started with his new release Junity, which opens with a nice rendition of The Beatles “Blackbird”. I listened to a few more tracks and then went to the next album his 2011 release Live at Bird’s Eye. As I listened to the album, I thought. boy, he sure is nice to give that vibes player so much time! Well, I thought he is pretty damn good! After I listened a little more and really liked the album, I went to Hendrick’s website, where I read that…….
Hendrik Meurkens, a virtuoso on both the chromatic harmonica and the vibraphone, is the most important jazz harmonica player since Toots Thielemans. German-born but now based in New York, Meurkens’ recordings and performances garner worldwide acclaim because the transcendent beauty of his music has universal appeal.
A two-mallet player in the tradition of Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, Hendrik Meurkens was en-route to being an instantly recognizable vibraphonist when he heard Toots Thielemans. Inspired by the sound of Thielemans’ harmonica, he taught himself the difficult-to-master instrument.
Let’s see Toots Thielmans, Milt Jackson, and Bobby Hutcherson, no wonder I liked this guy!! Reading on I discovered that Meurkens started out as a vibraphonist, and didn’t start playing the harmonica until he was 19, and heard Toots Thielemans!
Meurkens left Germany to study at the Berklee , after completing his studies, he was introduced and became enthralled with Brazilian music. So in the early 80s Hendrick was off to Rio, to immerse himself in the music and culture of Brazil. He even learned Portuguese! He’s do great, here, in Riverside, NJ!!
By 1983 he was working as a studio musician, recording with various European Radio Orchestras, leading his own groups and (take a breath) also accompanying visiting musicians the likes of Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and Buddy Tate. Obviously, not one to sit still (does any jazz musician??) by 1993 Meurkens was back in the “Big Apple” after signing an exclusive contract with Concord Records. That union has resulted in fifteen plus albums! From his website biography….
As a featured artist, Henrcik has recorded with Charlie Byrd, Jimmy Cobb, Ivan Lins, Monty Alexander, Claudio Roditi, Manfredo Fest and Mundell Lowe, as well as backing such leading artists as Astrid Gilberto and Olivia Newton John and touring with the Ray Brown Trio, Paquito D’Rivera, Oscar Castro Neves, Herb Ellis, Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, and James Moody among many others.
Throughout the day today I’ve listened on Spotify to several tracks from various albums and enjoyed them all! On both Junity and Live at Bird’s Eye, I was, in addition to Hendrick, impressed by Hendricks friend and Berklee alum Misha Tsiganov’s piano playing, I even went and listened to some of his solo work and I plan on doing a little more exploring of his music. So check them out!! Oh, and Happy Birthday, Hendrick!!
Links
Hendrik Meurkens Website
AllMusic
Misha Tsiganov
Wikipedia (German)
Facebook
Here’s a performance of “Luiza” by Hendrik Meurkens and Misha Tsiganov!
Music Review: Henrik Meurkens – Live at Bird’s Eye
Jazz Bassist Christian McBride was born on May 31, 1972 in Philadelphia, Pa. I only discovered his terrific bass playing last year, but since then he has become a favorite. So check out some information about Christian and some of the posts that I have written since finally catching onto his music.....
So May 20th was a holiday in several nations including, Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon. It was also the birthday of a Tunisian jazz piano player, Wajdi Cherif!! Knowing nothing about his music, other than that he played piano, I went to Spotify and listened to his 2009 release Fuzzy Colours and I didn’t have to listen long to become intrigued by and enjoy his music. Returning to All About Jazz, I discovered that at five years of age Wajdi was learning to play tunes he heard on the radio in his homeland of Tunisia on his little piano. Wajdi never lost his love for music and along his life’s journey, he earned his BA in English Literature, but more importantly he discovered jazz!! At the American cultural center in Tunis, he watched live performance videos of pianists Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans. He soon decided to make jazz music his career, and set out exploring it on his own. He made his professional debut in 1998. In 2003, he released his first album Phrygian Istikhbar in Paris. Accompanying Wajdi on the album were Diego Imbert on acoustic bass, Jeff Boudreau on drums and Habib Samandi on Arabic percussion. The album went on to become a finalist in the Indie Acoustic Awards in the USA in 2004!! From All About Jazz:
Three years later, Wajdi Cherif recorded his second album entitled Jasmine with some of the finest young French jazz musicians, released in 2006 in France. “Jasmine” shows the maturity and excellent artistic standard that pianist and composer Wajdi Cherif has accomplished so far (Honorable Mention in the International Songwriting Competition (Judges included Sonny Rollins ,John Scofield, Steve Vai…), Indie Acoustic Project winner Best CD of 2005, UNISONG songwriting Contest 1st place winner…).
Wajdi’s music has been described as…..
… a fusion of the modern jazz piano styles ranging from Thelonious MONK to Keith JARRET and Chick COREA, but at the same time with the influence of the colorful melodies of Arabic music that he was exposed to since his early childhood. All this resulted in the creation of a brand new jazz sound, a symbiosis of jazz and Arabic sounds. Read More
Not surprising, since it was watching performances of Monk and Corea that set him on the path to a career in jazz. I 
started this post saying that I listened to his 2009 release Fuzzy Colours, which I really enjoyed, From what I’ve read and from quick listens to his first two albums it seems that Middle Eastern influences are less prominent on this album than his earlier albums, particularly his first. From The Voice Magazine….
The Arabic influence and instrumentation is a little more salient on Jasmine than on Fuzzy Colours, with the oud and the percussion instruments granting a delicious texture to the improvisations, but in Fuzzy Colours (which also incorporates Latin sounds) Cherif has incorporated Arabic modes into his compositions and has revived, as is the wont of many Maghreb and Maghreb-influenced players, tunes penned eons ago by jazz greats like Gillespie (“A Night in Tunisia”), Juan Tizol (“Caravan”), and Miles Davis (“Nardis”), highlighting his awareness of the natural understanding that Arabic music shares with jazz. Fuzzy Colours has brought remarkably lively interpretations to these standards and Cherif’s own compositions have beautiful melody lines and an innovative élan while sitting squarely within the jazz tradition. Read More
So Happy Belated Birthday Wajdi!! And check out this fine pianist and composer and his latest album – Fuzzy Colours Here is a performance by the Wajdi Cherif Electric Quartet with Manu Codjia sitting in on guitar…….
Links
As I looked over the birthdays today at All About Jazz the first one that caught my eye was another vibist or vibraphonist (it is an either) Marc Wagnon. But then I got distracted by the career of Eddie Henderson and didn’t take time to write about Marc!!
and once again my wife posted this on my timeline on Facebook and claims it relates to me! Now where were we, oh yeah Marc Wagnon – here’s what some folks think about Marc
“Forward-thinking composing supported by spectacular musicianship.” John Barron, allaboutjazz.com
“this is an exemplary set that delivers the goods on many levels”, Peter Thelen Exposé Magazine
“Massive talent all around.” John Collinge, Progression Magazine
“…he is not only an incredible mallet player but also a first rate drummer!” Steve Roberts, ZNR.com
From his biography at AllMusic
Though his talent as a percussionist was immediately evident, the real story of Marc Wagnon’s success is one of a series of fortunate encounters with equally prodigious artists. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, his early musical tastes focused on progressive rock bands like King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Yes and Genesis. He was also impressed with the fusion sounds of Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was a Gary Burton concert, though, which helped him focus his desire to become a musician — he was impressed with Burton’s technique, creativity and flexibility on the vibraphone. Soon after seeing that influential performance he would enter the Geneva Conservatory to study classical percussion, including the vibraphone, which would become his instrument of choice.
The five years that Wagnon spent at the Geneva Conservatory was supplemented by a year at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Though his time there was short, it produced several relationships which would later prove helpful. At Berklee Wagnon met Dave Douglas, whose improvisational skills were an inspiration to Wagnon; he also met Dave Kikowski, who would become his consistent collaborator. Read on
A while back I discovered the music of Canadian jazz musician Jane Bunnett, like usual it was on a night that I was looking for new music and boy did I listened to Cuban Rhapsody featuring both Jane and pianist Hilario Durán. and if you’ve never heard it give it a listen it’s great! Anyway, today I get to wish her a Happy Birthday Jane was born on October 22, 1956 and is a Canadian soprano saxophonist, flautist and bandleader known for her Afro-Cuban jazz melodies. In addition to her primary instruments, Bunnett also plays the trompeta china, a Cuban wind instrument of Chinese origin.
Born and educated in Toronto, she trained as a classical pianist from 1975-78 (attaining Grade 10 Piano Honors), until tendentious forced a switch to woodwinds at the Royal Conservatory. In 1979 she began concurrent studies in jazz at York University, Toronto, inspired by her first exposure to jazz great Charles Mingus and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in San Francisco. This led to studies with pianist Barry Harris, flautists James Newton, Frank Wess and James Moody; then, having heard soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy’s music, she began to focus on that instrument also. A 1991 Canada Council grant enabled her to travel to Paris to begin studies with Lacy. (From All About Jazz)
Among the Jazz Artist who are celebrating their birthday’s today is jazz guitarist Gary Tu, who was born on this date in 1976 and since I was married and living in student housing at that time. I am old enough to e his father and he would e my oldest son and Nick (my oldest son) would be his younger brother by three years! Not that it matters at all to you the reader, but it puts Gary in perspective for me!!
Gary is originally from Taipei, Taiwan and now lives in Chicago, His current release is Last Turn released in 2007 Lyle Robinson at jazzguitarlife.com writes this about the album:
Gary Tu has established himself as a young up and coming Jazz Guitarist who has the skills and determination to continue on this path for many years to come. His first release, Look East, is a prominent debut of nine tunes featuring five well-crafted original compositions and four time-honored classics from highly recognized artists: Steve Swallow, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Frank Foster….
….While I like all the tunes on this CD there is one that I listen to over and over again: “The Road To The Sky”. This is a bright and upbeat tune with an electric solid-body sound that somewhat reminds me of Motown for some reason. The tune is way catchy with a strong melody that hits all the right buttons for me. He also introduces the use of a guitar synth, providing a worthy of note similarity to “you know who” which works given the context of the tune. This is definitely a radio friendly vehicle and a tune I would love to see live.
I would definitely recommend this CD to anyone who enjoys well written tunes and quality playing and I look forward to hearing more from Gary Tu. Continue Reading
