Been in Buenos Aires for: 1 month

Plan to stay until: It’s time to leave

Musician?: Yes.

If so, what do you play: Piano and Keys are my specialty, but have figured out how to play most everything you dont have to blow into.

Genre/s of choice: Funk. Acid Jazz. Anything with a B-3. Most everything with a Fender Rhodes, and switch that to everything if it has the Donald Fagan phaser attached to it.

Plans for this blog: To try and keep the good vibe Julien has started, but of course, add a little of my own flavor. I love Jazz, have played a lot of it growing up, listen to whatever I can whenever I can, but unfortunately I’m not much of a reader or studier. Almost everything I know comes from experiencing and doing. Thus, my suspicion is that this blog may include some things that aren’t exactly “Jazz” but instead “cool music” that I have or you should check out in Buenos Aires. But that in itself is Jazz, man, improvising, making the song (er, blog) yours, letting the mind wander, the fingers dance, and the music flow freely…

Today I plan to check out two gigs:

#1: Guy with the username CHiggins1985 left this message on the baexpats.org forum:

Hey dude-
I play every Wednesday and Friday from 5-7 at a place called Pura Vida on Reconquista 516 downtown (near Corrientes) It’s me and a Mexican percussionist and we play a mix of pop from different eras and artists, Caetano Veloso, Manu Chau, Beatles, Kinks, Bob Marley, to name a few…we’re always looking for soloists to get the energy up so bring your sax sometime and let’s jam! (this goes for any other soild, improvising musicians on the thread) Hope to see you sometime!

Charlie

Strange story attatched to this: I saw the post, saw that it was signed by someone named Charlie, looked at the username and thought, “Man, I knew a Charlie Higgins back in middle school who was a year older than me (I was born in 1986)”. I then remembered that not only did he play the guitar, but we played together in the very first band situation I was ever a part of, our middle school jazz band. I must have been 11 or 12 years old. However, our school only had 50 kids per grade, so I was still a bit doubtful that this was the same kid. Shot an email over to the guy, and got a prompt response that it was in fact the same Charlie. As a result of this story, I will now proceed to arrange a funked out version of “It’s a Small World After All”,

#2: Going to go check out the jam session at Barintimo in Belgrano that Julien wrote about two posts ago.

Chau

The place also features rock’n'roll and reggae shows on different days. Talk to the guy with the sailor’s blue woolen hat for more info. Private events facilities and more.

On-stage instruments include keyboards, straight-up bass, drums and loooooots of guitars.

Drummer Néstor Astarita is a reference in jazz. From his beginnings until now, he has gone through many different stages until he developed a modern approach without losing his swing. His name is already synonym of Argentine jazz thanks to his tireless efforts in promoting and producing jazz shows. He co-founded the legendary Jazz & Pop music bar along with Jorge “Negro” González.  He appeared in the last Buenos Aires Jazz Festival with his band “Néstor Astarita y Buenos Aires Jazz Fusion” (created in 1981). Thursday’s band is composed of: Juan Cruz De Urquiza, Alejandro Kalinoski, Alfredo Remus & Néstor Astarita.

You can listen to a live recording of Néstor Astarita here. Official page of Néstor Astarita Producciones here.

From Jazz Club Argentina

The Centro Cultural Rojas offers a journey through the history of Jazz, from the slaves’ songs in the plantations of South Mississippi to the new cultural trend of “sampling,” making stops at the New Orleans and Chicago styles, Swing, the different bebop forms, Free Jazz, Jazz fusion, Progressive Jazz, Neotraditionalism and Acid Jazz. The different styles will be analysed through their interconnection to social, political and cultural movements of various eras, with the help of original recordings and video material. (For a crash course about the history of jazz, a nice summary here).

From the e-newsletter:
The famous pianist and arranger, along with his trio, offers a jazz interpretation of the works of maestro Astor Piazzolla, with pieces from La Historia del Tango, such as “Burdel,” “Café,” “Night Club,” and other classics. Exquisite Argentine music in a unique show, go see it come alive from the hands of virtuoso Mario Parmisano. Since 1993, Parmisano has joined legendary guitarist Al Di Meola‘s band on countless shows around the world and recordings, also working with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John Patitucci, Steve Vai, Marc Johnson, Anthony Jackson, Pino Palladino, the Symphonic Orchestra of Moscow, among many others. Jorge Oss – bass / Lucas Canel – drums / Mario Parmisano – piano & keyboards

Thelonious Club, Buenos Aires

From the leaflet kindly given at the entrance: “Jazz hard bop – temas originales y otros no tanto…” (“Hard bop jazz, with original pieces and others that are not so original…”) * Note: I think I got all the band members’ names right, but please indicate any error you may notice and I’ll rectify asap.* The $ symbol refers to the local currency, the Argentine peso (ARS).

After almost two months of musical encounters and wanderings in Buenos Aires, I have to confess that last night was my first time at the much talked-about Thelonious Club. As with any notorious spot, I tend to avoid the place altogether, prefering to concentrate on more obscure joints. But Thelonious Club has a lot to show for itself. It is conviently small and intimate, with a L-shaped room allowing couples and groups of friends to hide beyond the stage in the smaller part of the ‘L.’ In spite of the perfect acoustic set-up, the view from the very long bar is not great and allows for awkward seating and a lot of standing – after all there are only a dozen tables and as many stools. Being on my own and without a reservation, I had to squeeze in between two other standing lonesome customers and lean on the inner edge of the L-shaped wall, securing an uncomfortable but priceless spot, right in front of the musicians. Drinks start at $10 for a Quilmes Crystal beer. There is a small selection of cheese plates and small, rectangular pizzas. Entrance was $20.

What about the band? They played one original composition, the title of which I missed, and lots of Wayne Shorter pieces, such as “Black Nile” and “Free for All.” They also did one Horace Silver (from one of the Jazz Messengers‘ sessions). Needless to say, the most impressive musician that night was the one giving his name to the band: Santiago Bird, the pianist. His inspiration, with flabbergasting double melodies intertwining in a perfectly dissonant way (sic!), and his smooth and powerful chromatic takes on the minor hard bop chord progressions, left the audience with a sense of achievement and pure bliss. Tenor saxophonist Christian Teran did his thing with a cooler approach to the different pieces and wiggled his way through the three sets with lots of new melodic lines and simple but bright ideas. Not much space was given to double-bassist Juan Bayon (no solo), but his flawless and constant support to the rest of the band was exemplary. Drummer Luciano Ruggieri, with whom I chatted in-between the first two sets, told me he was filling in the position for a month while the original drummer was on leave. It was his second performance with the band, and this musician hailing from Rosario was a strong, emotional and entertaining addition to the group. Last but not least, trumpet player Sergio Wagner, hosting the night and soberly introducing band members and pieces, blasted solos across the bar with amazing dexterity and flexibility. Yet, I must admit, there is a recurrent issue with trumpet players (sometimes) wanting to reach high notes constantly, as a show of musical craft, and to the detriment of the quality of the sound, its roundness, justness, or to the detriment of the melodic interest (and I’m learning the trumpet). There is no doubt that the trumpet player that night was skilled and proficient in many regards, but I think he sacrificed a lot by struggling through higher-range notes – it was at times slightly painful to listen to the broken, distorted and creaking notes. Now I’m not saying broken, distorted and creaking notes can’t be beautiful (simply listen to Roy Eldridge’s solo on Billie Holiday’s recording of “Fine & Mellow,” – and it can be discussed how ‘distorted’ his notes are…), it is simply that in that particular context I found them a tad unwelcomed.

Overall, the show was a great success with the crowd and I enjoyed the three sets. One last word about the place: I found the club slightly cheto (a wee bit snobbish in local slang).  $20 is not an expensive fee, yet it limits the number of customers for this more-than-tiny place, as it does with couples or groups of people without a reservation. Thelonious club remains a must-go for jazz lovers and I hope to find myself sitting at one of their tables or slouching in one of their lush sofas more often in the future.

Source: jazzeando

For all jazz fanatics like us, 2009 is a year filled with must-see concerts. For one, saxophonist Sonny Rollins (fan page and wiki article), now 78, probably the greatest figure of jazz today and one of the most prominent saxophonists of all time, will be performing at the Gran Rex between August 15th and 18th. As they say in Harlem, where Sonny grew up: “He doesn’t play jazz… He IS jazz.”

He’ll be performing with a hard bop band (nice hard-bop blog here).

But Sonny is not the only one this year to come visit us: we’ll have the pleasure of listening to Cassandra Wilson, Ornette Coleman, John Pizzarelli, George Benson, Brad Mehldau, Joe Lovano, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Bad Plus.

Time to make some savings so we can attend all concerts!

Funky & Soul band “Funkoff” (myspace and vuenosaires.com listing) is to appear at the Makena Cantina Club (fotolog page here, Facebook page here) on Saturday, March 7th. Funkoff takes jazz standards (Miles’ “Tutu,” or “Summertime,” or “Sunny”) and makes funky versions of them, as the name obviously implies. The band’s assets, from what I gather from their myspace playlist, are defintitely an inspired trumpet player and a delightfully raspy and slurring female voice at the mike. Unfortunately, I have no details on the personnel (feel free to add details in the comment section if you know them).

Makena Cantina Club appears to get rather positive reviews in the online óleo restaurant guide. From the adóndevamos.com website:

The neighbour of Palermo hosts the Makena Cantina club, one club that was missing there. With a spacious and colourful dining room and live concerts, along with a wide choice of excellent and affordable dishes, this place is definitely a safe bet.

This hidden place blends the features of a nice cantina-style food, and the daily variety of a music club.  Music is to be enjoyed from Wednesdays to Saturdays, with live bands including soul, funk, electro-jazz, reggae and DVD-films’ screening on a giant screen.

The cuisine there offers a choice of delicious starters, barbecued pizzas (parilla-style) and platters filled with: pink salmon (with sautéed corn, new potatoes & pumpkin); Seafood Casserole (mussels, squid, shrimps, rice); rump steak (with a thousand French fries, and red wine sauce); bondiola, a local delicatessen food (with mashed sweet potatoes & caramel, fruit chutney); Curry chicken (white rice, curry sauce); and Sea spaghetti (squid, black olives, tomatoes, white wine). Desserts include: saffroned pears, banana foster (caramelized, American ice-cram) and chocolate mousse. The wine selection includes: Luigi Bosca, Nieto Senetiner, Rutini, Graffigna and Fin del Mundo, among others.

Makena Cantina Club is part of the new trend blending good food and good music.

See you there!

World famous pianist Brad Mehldau (official website and wiki page) is to perform at Gran Rex this coming July. Known for his original renditions of standards, and especially the way he plays two distinct lines with each hand in unusual rhythmic meters (7/4 for example), Brad Mehldau has been a major figure of contemporary jazz from the 90s up to this day. One of my favourite pieces by Mehldau is called Paranoid Android, a 9+ minute long piece from his 2002 album “Largo.” A much longer version of this piece is available here (but not free!). Jazz.com offers excellent insight in the career of the pianist, as well as a lengthy, 2-part interview and listening recommendations.

John Pizzarelli (official website and wiki page), Amercican-born guitarist, but also vocalist, bandleader and composer, is known for his swinging versions of jazz standards, his showmanship and his singing lines, as well as for his original songs turned standards. He is an active member of the jazz community and frequently appears on TV and on the radio.

Watch out for these two outstanding jazz performers coming to the city of tango!

Pictures come from their official websites.