September 2011
Welcome to the Georgia Straight Jazz Society Newsletter, keeping you up to date on the local and Vancouver Island jazz scene and informed about your Society.
AT THE JAZZ CLUB
Thursday Jazz in September
Thursday Jazz at the Elks is back! Join us for another season of great live jazz, beginning September 8.
7:30 pm Thursday evenings at the Courtenay Elks' Hall, 231 6th Streeet, September through June. No cover.
- Sept 8 - Jeff Drummond Group
- Sept 15 - The Lensmen
- Sept 22 - Forbidden Jazz
- Sept 29 - Deja Blue
Schedule subject to change.
Check all coming events on the GSJS web site >>
Sunday Concert Series
The Jazz Society kicks off it's 2011/12 Concert Series on Sunday, October 16, with the Marc Atkinson Trio. This is a special event for a couple of reasons. Their incredible musicianship has earned the Trio a reputation as one of the top string groups in the world. And they presented the Jazz Society's first concert, in 2006. We're delighted to have them back. Guitarists and bass players - don't miss it!
Photo by Toby Snelgrove
www.tobography.com
"The Marc Atkinson Trio is quickly headed for superstar status"
Cindy McLeod, Jazz Elements.
Marc Atkinson web site.
Advance tickets for the Marc Atkinson trio will be on sale at Thursday Jazz at the Elks beginning September 8, and soon after at Bop City, Courtenay and Videos N More, Comox. Watch the Jazz Society web site for more information about the group and the concert.
This fall we'll also be hosting vocalist Dee Daniels (Nov 20) and trombonist Nick La Riviere's Quartet (Dec 4). An exciting concert series for sure.
SOCIETY NEWS
Volunteers
The GSJS is totally volunteer-driven. If you can help out on Thursday evening, at the Sunday concerts, or in any of the behind-the-scene roles that keep the Sociey working, such as membership, publicity, photography, newsletter, and concert reviewer, please let us know at volunteers@georgiastraightjazz.com, or fill out the on-line volunteer form.
FROM THE COLLECTION
The GSJS 78 RPM Record Collection
As we mentioned in the June 2011 Newsletter, the Jazz Society has a collection of almost 500 78 RPM jazz recordings. We hope to introduce one side to you each month.
OW! - Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, 1947 LISTEN HERE 
Recorded on August 22, 1947, OW! showcases both Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet chops and his sense of humour. On the recording are: Dizzy Gillespie, tp, voc; Dave Burns, Matthew McKay, Ray Orr, Elmon Wright, tp; Ted Kelly, Bill Shepherd, tb; John Brown, Howard Johnson, as; George 'Big Nick' Nicholas, Joe Gayles, ts; Cecil Payne, bs; John Lewis, p; Roy Brown, b; Kenny Clarke, d; Kenny Hagood, voc. Thanks to searchforjazz.com
JAZZ NEWS
Whence the Real Book?
Barry Kernfeld, in addition to such esoteric jazz ventures as doing his musicologist PhD thesis on a study of techniques of improvisation in Miles Davis’s sextet with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, has a real interest in the Real Books. Not so much the legitimater versions being published now, but the "underground" editions from the 1970's and 80's.
His book The Story of Fake Books: Bootlegging Songs to Musicians (Studies in Jazz) is considered the authoritative resource. The final chapter is Making Of The Real Book. Here's a summary from Kernfeld's web site:
. . . this paper picks up the story of fake books in the 1970s, after the government abandoned its effort to prosecute fake-book bootleggers through the criminal infringement clause of the Copyright Act. . .. The bulk of this paper is devoted to excerpts from an interview with Steve Swallow and correspondence with Pat Metheny, both of whom contributed to the making of a bootleg jazz fake book, The Real Book, while teaching at the Berklee College of Music in Boston during the academic year 1974-75. In presenting that story, I consider reasons why the arena for fake-book bootlegging shifted from pop music to jazz. Swallow describes how the book was made. He explains issues of printed-music and recorded-music licensing and royalties that influenced decisions which he made to contribute lead sheets directly to The Real Book, and which he then explored in consultation with Metheny, Carla Bley, Steve Kuhn, and others, who chose to follow that same path, and he examines, from the perspective of later years, the consequences of these decisions. Both men address the contentious question of the “accuracy” of The Real Book. Swallow offers, from the experience of his career as a professional jazz bassist, thoughts on changing attitudes toward the use of printed music in jazz performance. Finally, we suggest possible reasons for the ongoing widespread proliferation of The Real Book, even in the face of legitimate, authorized, copyrighted competitors which have emerged within the realm of jazz in recent decades.
One of the principal players in producing the books, named only as "B", has written an interesting follow-up. Wikipedia has an entry about the Real Book as well, but Kernfeld's information, and that from "B" are closer to the real story.
