Sorry I missed last week. Couldn't be avoided ... just ran out of steam by Friday (after returning from Kansas). Well, without much more ado, let's Take Five:
- Bret Primack, the Jazz Video Guy notes that one part of Blue Note Records' 70th Anniversary was the creation of the Blue Note 7, a septet featuring Nicholas Payton, Steve Wilson, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Charlap, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash playing new workings of classic BN repertoire. Before a concert in Tucson, the group allowed Jazz Video Guy to make a video of them performing Wilson's arrangement of Thelonious Monk's Criss Cross.
- I don't know if you've tried the virtual world Second Life. I have an avatar (while not female or some weird cross between a hippo and aardvark, he doesn't look anything like me, of course), who is sitting on a bench on the Thomson Reuters (my employer) island waiting for me to drop in and take him somewhere else. Although it has already taken place, I was intrigued by this Virtual Jazz Festival site announcing a virtual Toronto Jazz Festival last May. Not sure it actually happened...but I wish I had been able to attend (or my avatar, that is...).
- Take some classes on jazz from the nation's museum, the Smithsonian on their jazz site.
- I unfortunately missed saxophonist and composer Rudresh Mahanthappa when he appeared with his Indo-Pak Coalition at the Bop Shop Atrium this year. He recently wrote a guest post on the Destination...Out blog offering insights into his art and serving as primer on Indian music. Throughout the post are peppered some of the music that influenced Rudresh's music and life. For those not familiar with Rudresh’s recordings, the post has some tunes of his at the end.
- Jazz Backstory is a blog with a collection of writing based on the blogger's position as Jazz Archive Director at Hamilton College, a position he has held since 1995. The Archive has collected individual videotaped interviews with about 300 musicians, writers, producers and spouses all intimately involved in the jazz world. Jazz Backstory shares writings based on those interviews. Here's a post relating to the recently-passed saxophonist Gerry Niewood.
So take five and explore. Let me know what you think in the comments ....There will be five more next week.
Your Rochester jazz listings, served up hot with a side of symposium (on Sunday). We look a little light early next week, so let me know if I missed something.
Finally back in town after a trip to Kansas to help my mother out. In addition to the piles of work on my desks at work and home, I thought I might try to get out to catch some jazz in town. Here's what's happening over the next seven days.
Gerry Niewood—jazz saxophonist and flutist, band leader and long-time sideman to Chuck Magione, Eastman graduate—was a victim of the February 12, 2009, crash of Flight 3407 near Buffalo (along with Coleman Mellett of Mangione's band). He was scheduled to perform with Mangione's band Friday in Buffalo. He came to play in Rochester pretty often; I heard him at the Strathallan in 2007. 
In posting the list of the jazz fallen of 2008 (which I did from a conference in NYC) on February 2nd, I was unaware that a bass player Rafael "Ralph" Ortiz, beloved by many in Rochester, had just passed away Monday after a short battle with cancer discovered only weeks ago. I had heard that Ortiz was in the hospital at the Exodus to Jazz gig on January 30th and was told at that time that his time was short, but hadn't heard about his death from anyone and have been traveling. Ralph was most recently associated with 
I'm finally getting back into town after being down in NYC since Sunday. Unfortunately, my dreams of jazz nights in the Big Apple were limited to the Iridium gig seen in the Live Shot on Sunday. Work, work, work.... 
I don't generally note the passing of jazz greats on a one-by-one basis, choosing instead to note the passing of those who have had a connection to the Rochester area. However, local jazz bassist Fred Stone forwarded this list of 40 who were associated with jazz and died in 2008, as compiled by Stephen D. Harris of Pasadena. As harris notes, it may not be entirely complete (and that is inadvertent), but since it brings it all into one, I thought I'd share it with my readers, some of whom may have known these artists and, perhaps, may not have known of their passing: 
