Fred Kaplan

New & Old Treasures by Maria Schneider
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jul 22, 2010  |  1 comments
Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra plays at Birdland in midtown Manhattan this week, an unusual season and setting (usually they play at the Jazz Standard around Thanksgiving). The occasion is the premiere of a new, commissioned composition, and at Wednesday’s early set, it sounded as lovely as anything she’s written: joyful, melancholic, adventurous, pensive, with a samba swing.
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Jenny Scheinman's got it going on
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jul 14, 2010  |  1 comments
I’ve been following Jenny Scheinman for a few years now: her frequent Tuesday night sets at Barbes, a small Brooklyn bar and sometimes-jazzclub not far from my house; her side gigs with the likes of Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, and Ben Allison at various clubs in Manhattan; her wry CDs, most notably 12 Songs.
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Jason Moran's Ten
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jul 05, 2010  |  5 comments
Jason Moran’s Ten (Blue Note) commemorates the 10th anniversary of his trio called Bandwagon (with Tarus Mateen on bass, Nasheet Waits on drums), and it’s by far the group’s best recording, maybe Moran’s best all told, which, if so, would mean it surpasses his 2002 solo disc, Modernistic, which is saying a lot. Whether it does or not (I’m still mulling), this is a great album, that much is certain.
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Is Jazz a Young Person's Music After All?
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 30, 2010  |  29 comments
A week ago, I went to see Chris Potter lead a top-notch quintet at the Jazz Standard. It was a great set. Potter’s big tenor-sax sound keeps getting more swinging, more virtuosic, yet at the same time tonally subtler. Joining him were Steve Nelson on vibes, Paul Motian on drums, Craig Taborn on piano, and Scott Colley on bass. Potter was smiling a lot during their solos, as if he couldn’t quite believe that he’d assembled such a crew.
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Keith Jarrett Trio at Carnegie Hall (plus: Jazz Festival!)
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 19, 2010  |  5 comments
Keith Jarrett’s “Standards Trio” played Carnegie Hall Thursday night, to predictable glories.
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Jazz Awards, 2009-10
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 14, 2010  |  1 comments
The Jazz Journalists Association held its 2010 awards bash at City Winery, a warm, spacious eatery (with an excellent wine list) in the SoHo section of New York this evening. Below are most of the winners, followed by the musicians for whom I cast my ballot. The awards covered the period from April 15, 2009, to April 15, 2010.
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Stan Getz & Kenny Barron
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 10, 2010  |  0 comments
A trend of sorts has taken hold the past few years: albums (in most cases, multi-disc boxed sets) capturing not just the highlights of a jazz concert but the whole concert—or a whole week’s worth of concerts, the entire run of a gig at a nightclub—every note of it.
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Advertisement for Myself: The paperback edition
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 08, 2010  |  4 comments
As I’ve mused before (though only twice), what’s the point of having a blog if you can’t indulge in a little self-promotion?
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Geri Allen's Flying Toward the Sound
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 03, 2010  |  6 comments
Geri Allen’s new album, Flying Toward the Sound (Motema Music), is a stunner. She calls it “a solo piano excursion inspired by Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock.” In jazz pianists’ lingo, this is like Babe Ruth pointing to a spot in right-center field. And she slugs the ball out of the park.
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Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden duets
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan  |  May 31, 2010  |  1 comments
Let’s put the main point up front. The new duet album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, Jasmine (on ECM), is a gorgeous piece of work: all standards, mainly ballads, nothing fancy (not overtly anyway), but such poignance and quiet passion; it’s a glimpse into the intimacy of the act of making art.
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