RVANews

RVAjazzfest in Photos, Pt. 3

Dean Christesen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Finally, the last set of photos from RVAjazzfest. This set was taken by Will Fisher. View the entire album or check out some select photos below.

Fight the Big Bull with Steven Bernstein:

Boots of Leather, Glows in the Dark:

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RVAjazzfest in Photos, Pt. 2

Dean Christesen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:48:00 +0000

Here are more photos of RVAjazzfest featuring Steven Bernstein. This set was taken by Lindsey Prather, long time contributor, photographer, and go-to girl for RVAjazz. One more set of photos will be up soon.

From RVAjazzfest - Lindsey Prather

Steven Bernstein fronting Fight the Big Bull

Steven Bernstein with Fight the Big Bull

Brian Jones with Fight the Big Bull

Jason Scott, Pinson Chanselle, and Matt White of Fight the Big Bull

Steven Bernstein

Jason Scott of Fight the Big Bull

John Lilley of Glows in the Dark

Cameron Ralston, Brian Jones, and J.C. Kuhl of Boots of Leather

RVAjazzfest in Photos, Pt. 1

Dean Christesen — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came to RVAjazzfest last night and made it a success. All three bands were incredible and I was blown away by the enthusiasm that everyone shared. There were a couple of photographers taking photos that will be here on the site in the next week. This first set was taken by Ed Christesen. View the entire gallery.

Steven Bernstein directs one of his arrangements with Fight the Big Bull

(front row) Jason Scott, John Lilley, David Hood, (back row) Cameron Ralston, and Pinson Chanselle of Fight the Big Bull

Steven Bernstein performing with Fight the Big Bull

Cameron Ralston, Brian Jones, and J.C. Kuhl of Boots of Leather

John Lilley, Reggie Pace, Cameron Ralston, Scott Clark, and Scott Burton of Glows in the Dark

RVAjazzfest: Boots of Leather

Dean Christesen — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Boots of Leather will perform at RVAjazzfest with Steven Bernstein, Fight the Big Bull, and Glows in the Dark on February 21, 2009, 8pm, at The Camel. Tickets are $10, all ages welcome.

by Nathan Goodwyn

Drummer Brian Jones wants to record 40 records by the time he’s 40. Last week, he turned 36. He’s done 21 records so far, so he’s got a ways to go.

But not to worry, he says.

"I'm doing a session next week with a bunch of ringers. Jesse Harper (Old School Freight Train) is singing a bunch of tunes I wrote."

He’s also working on a standards record with pianist Wells Hanley and bassist Curtis Fye.

"The idea is to look back and say, okay, in 2009, I did a standards record. It was time to do that on some level. I love playing standards."

His hunger for playing and recording music, along with obvious talent and skill, have kept Jones at the forefront of music and creativity in Richmond for almost two decades.

His life has been devoted to music. Things have worked out pretty well along the way.

Not surprisingly, Jones suggests that life on the road with Agents of Good Roots, probably the most talented rock band that Richmond has ever produced, was the thing that created openings for him in so many other musical situations.

"I was on the road all the time and was listening to music and reading books. That's basically all I would do all day."

These moments alone with his headphones led to the creation of the Velvet Underground-inspired group Boots of Leather.

"I started listening to Dave Douglas a lot. There was a period of time where jazz players were recomposing and rearranging a bunch of older music. Dave Douglas did a series of records where he did Booker Little, Wayne Shorter, maybe a few other guys. I admired what Dave was doing so much. Every record was so good, and he set such a high standard."

"As I started to put out records myself, I knew I eventually would like to try a project like [Boots of Leather]. I didn’t want to use a jazz musician as the primary source. I wanted to use a rock band as the source."

The decision to go with Velvet Underground as the inspiration for the group was logical given Jones's roots. He's a trained jazz musician but his sensibilities as a player are tied to rock.

"I grew up listening to rock: Led Zeppelin, U2, Rush, David Bowie, and others. The inspiration for [Boots of Leather] could have just as easily been Neil Young. A friend of mine loaned me a bunch of Velvet records. It was just what I happened to be listening to at the time."

Jones credits jazz for his willingness to try most anything as a musician.

"Learning how to play jazz teaches you to be very flexible," he says. "I try to approach anything I'm playing from that mindset. You try to keep an open mind. As a jazz musician your goal is to try to make it different every time. Jazz musicians are trained to do that. You could take what I did with the Velvets [and] you could do anything else."

For Jones, Boots of Leather has always been about that sense of adventure and flexibility. "It started with JC [Kuhl, saxophone] and John Sullivan, who now plays with a really successful pop group [Jack's Mannequin, an internationally-known alternative rock band based in Orange County, California]. We had a great first rehearsal together and it sounded good and developed from there. Randall Pharr is on bass now and JC is still with me."

But people may have the wrong impression about the group in an important sense.

"Sometimes the readings are more straight ahead but if people even recognized the tunes as Velvet tunes, I would be pretty surprised. People thought we were going to be a Velvet Underground cover band. The idea was to take someone else's music and rip it apart, put it back together."

The name "Boots of Leather" comes from a characteristically enigmatic Velvet lyric, "Venus in Furs," recorded on The Velvet Underground & Nico in 1966. That track in particular features John Cale on viola and Lou Reed playing a guitar on which all of the strings are tuned to the same note (an "Ostrich guitar"). What results is a sound principally based on melody and rhythm, not so much on harmony or counterpoint. The tune feels more like Ravi Shankar than rock and roll.

"The rap on the Velvets has always been that Lou Reed is a provocative lyricist and all that, but I became interested in the lack of harmonic structure and dissonance and the strong melodies. The melodies were just beautiful to me."

Jones's iconoclasm has earned him the respect and admiration of myriad musicians in Richmond and beyond. He is in high demand as a session player. He teaches daily, balancing time between students at William and Mary, University of Richmond, Collegiate School, Virginia Commonwealth University, and other locations—all of this as well as taking care of his young family. He has two daughters, ages 5 and 2, and his wife is an attorney.

Jones juggles a challenging schedule that would threaten to wear anyone down. His family and his sense of routine seem to help keep him grounded.

"The kids are up at 6:30am every day, so that's when I get up. Doesn't matter if I had a gig the night before and got home at 2am. They need to eat breakfast." He also works out regularly at the YMCA. "Typically I get in there around nine in the morning three or four times a week to run and workout."

"My older daughter is really coming into her own. She sits at the piano and plays a few notes and says she’s writing a tune. It's pretty cool to watch."

He seems not to focus on the fact that he is one of the most admired and imitated musicians in town, and he doesn’t think much about the respect he’s earned. All of the focus is on the music he’s creating in the moment, whenever it comes.

"Tonight I'm playing percussion with Fight the Big Bull and all I'm thinking about is, 'How are we going to approach it and what are we going to play?' I'm just thinking about what's happening right now. If someone likes what I'm doing, I'm pleased. To me it's about opportunity. I just want to keep playing, teaching, recording, performing, as long as I can. I do look at developing and helping people who are younger than me, people like [drummers] Pinson [Chanselle] and Scott Clark. My attitude is, 'here's what I've done, but I'm not saying it's the way.'"

"People need to find their own voice."

Boots of Leather is: Brian Jones: drums; Randall Pharr: bass; J.C. Kuhl: saxophone.

RVAjazzfest is made possible by the
generous support of Richmond Jazz Society, Inc., RVA Magazine, Francis J. Balint & Associates, and Urban Views Weekly

Photos by Dean Christesen and Lindsey Prather

RVAjazzfest

Dean Christesen — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:41:00 +0000

RVAjazzfest

Photos: by Ed Christesen, by Lindsey Prather, by Will Fisher

Saturday, February 21, 2009
8 p.m.

featuring

Steven Bernstein (click for exclusive RVAjazz interview) with Fight the Big Bull

Boots of Leather

Glows in the Dark

$10, all ages

The Camel
1621 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 353 4901
www.thecamel.org

RVAjazzfest is made possible by the generous support of Richmond Jazz Society, Inc., RVA Magazine, Francis J. Balint & Associates, and Urban Views Weekly

About Steven Bernstein Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/slide trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer who lives outside of musical convention. His influence and projects inhabit almost every strain of American music that has been produced in the last half century. He consistently collaborates with Lou Reed, plays trumpet and arranges for Levon Helm, is the former musical director of no-wave Jazz outfit The Lounge Lizards, has released four beautiful records on John Zorn's Tzadik Label, composed numerous film scores including Get Shorty, Clay Pigeons, and Fishing With John as well as scoring Robert Altman's Kansas City. He has worked on various Hal Wilner Projects including being the musical director on the unanimously acclaimed and recently released Leonard Cohen documentary. Bernstein wrote the horn arrangements for Bill Frisell's Grammy winning 2004 recording Unspeakable, as well as for artists including Rufus Wainwright, Darlene Love, Elton John, and Marvin Pontiac. His band Sex Mob has been together since 1995 touring the world. Sex Mob has won numerous awards, and has had their music featured on MTV, Saturday Night Live and NPR. His nine-piece ensemble, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, recently released their debut recording, MTO Vol. 1 on Sunnyside records. MTO was formed in 1999 for a series of Midnight shows at Tonic, and spent a year and a half long residency at the Jazz Standard.

Bernstein has played trumpet with a diverse group of artists including Marianne Faithfull, Linda Ronstadt, David Murray, David Berger, Digable Planets, Sting, Medeski Martin and Wood, Courtney Love, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Don Byron and Mocean Worker. Awards include Downbeat critics poll 2006 (#1 RISING STAR ARRANGER, #4 RISING STAR TRUMPETER) Downbeat critics poll 2005 (#1 RISING STAR ARRANGER) Downbeat critics poll 2004 (#1 ARRANGER TDWR, #2 BIG BAND – MILLENNIAL TERRITORY ORCHESTRA), Jazz Journalists Association 2003 (RARE BRASS) and Downbeat Critics Poll 2002 (SEX MOB #1 BEYOND GROUP, #1 ACOUSTIC JAZZ GROUP TDWR). http://www.stevenbernstein.net

About Fight the Big Bull A spirited congregation of saxophone, clarinet, trombones, trumpet, guitar, bass and two drummers, Fight the Big Bull is a display of spontaneous emotion filled with powerful significance and baptized in the traditions of the music. The band's recordings have drawn praise from artists such as Ken Vandermark and Steven Bernstein and recently gained the attention of Portuguese avant-garde label, Clean Feed Records. Dying Will Be Easy, the bands debut effort, connects the group to its rich southern musical heritage. Proud residents of Richmond, Virginia, the band's music is filled with remnants of spirituals, New Orleans marches, southern soul dance bands, and gospel choirs - all peeking through a kaleidoscope built in the avant-garde tradition. Displaying a very loose and messy aesthetic influenced as much by rock and roll as a deep love of international folk music Fight the Big Bull creates what has been called "... a rapturously chaotic sound."

Formed in the Fall of 2005 in Richmond, Va by what was then Fight the Bull (a brilliant but currently defunct avant-garde trio of guitar, trombone and drums) and comprised of the finest that Richmond had to offer Fight the Big Bull recorded what was to become Dying Will Be Easy in the Summer of 2006. After securing a local bi-weekly gig in the fall of 2006 Fight the Big Bull quickly became a phenomenon in the local music community, honing their live performance into a beautiful chaotic and thrilling mess that appeals to the widest spectrum of listeners. Occasionally showing their exceptional sense of humor as well as unique arranging skills Fight the Big Bull has thrown the biggest and best parties that Richmond has ever seen, hosting a complete cover of the Weezer's Blue Album as well as covering Michael Jackson's Thriller on Halloween. In the Fall of 2007 Fight the Big Bull made their debut at the celebrated New York avant-gard space The Stone and released their freaky Richmond gospel trance voodoo on all unsuspecting NYC ears. In April Fight the Big Bull was MacArthur Grant recipient and celebrated avant-garde troubadour Ken Vandermark's guest for a series of shows in Chicago. They have been called "...sonically gigantic", "great, messy, generous music", " the best argument out there for small-market jazz innovation.", and Timeout NY has called them "... one of the more vibrant jazz ensembles we've heard in a long while". In November Fight the Big Bull was featured on NPR's Fresh Air and WNYC (New York City's NPR station) and Popmatters.com recently named Dying Will Be Easy as one of the top 10 Jazz albums of 2008. A band full of horns and love that you should never ever miss, displaying such a wide palate of emotions that your tin heart cannot escape being moved and featuring the finest members of the Richmond music community, Fight the Big Bull is much more than the sum of its parts and begs more than a passing spin on the hi-fi. http://www.fightthebigbull.com

View articles on RVAjazz about Fight the Big Bull

About Boots of Leather Comprised of Brian Jones on drums, JC Kuhl on saxoph

one, and Randall Pharr on upright bass, the primary focus of this unique venture is music of the Velvet Underground arranged for instrumental trio, along with a couple VU-inspired Brian Jones original compositions. Venues at which the group has performed include Bogart's, the Commercial Taphouse, and the Canal Club, all in Richmond. Boots of Leather's debut album, Foil, is now available for purchase through Jones' Slang Sanctuary label. The second Boots of Leather record, rich man poor man, is an eclectic mix of cover tunes from different composers (Barrios, Elliot Smith, Cream, Stravinsky, etc). http://www.slangsanctuary.com

View articles on RVAjazz about Brian Jones

About Glows in the Dark Glows in the Dark is an avant-garde jazz group based in Richmond, Virginia, and includes Scott Burton on guitar, Scott Clark on drums, John Lilley on saxophone, Reginald Pace on trombone, and Cameron Ralston on bass. Formed in 2007 by Scott Burton as a new outlet for his music, Glows is an on-going attempt to meld jazz and free improvisation with the story telling qualities of movies (or “films” for the serious). The group successfully creates music that’s engaging, challenging and always evolving. Glows in the Dark has shared the stage with Ken Vandermark and Tim Daisy, Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone, Judith Berkson, Aram Shelton’s Arrive, NY’s Little Women. http://glowsinthedark.wordpress.com

View articles on RVAjazz about Glows in the Dark

Announcing: RVAjazzfest

Dean Christesen — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Today I'm proud to announce RVAjazzfest! The event is going to include performances by internationally renowned New York City trumpeter Steven Bernstein with Fight the Big Bull, as well as Brian Jones' Boots of Leather and Scott Burton's Glows in the Dark. To read more about each artist, go to the official RVAjazzfest page.

I'm very excited about the event, which is going to be held on February 21, 2009, at The Camel. The music should be amazing, and hopefully we'll see a lot of unfamiliar faces coming out for it. The ticket price is $10, which would be a great deal to see Bernstein alone! But he is going to be performing with (that is, in CONJUNCTION with) Fight the Big Bull like they did with Vandermark, which means potentially new charts, new excitement, and a killer legend sitting in the horn section. I'm also very excited to have Brian Jones with his group Boots of Leather performing Jones' arrangements of Velvet Underground songs and other Jones originals, and Glows in the Dark. Burton's ability to write for the group drawing inspiration from films is impeccable (especially their Halloween John Carpenter set...wow). I have been totally entranced (and in the Halloween set's case, legitimately frightened) every time I've seen Glows in the Dark.

You'll notice a list of sponsors on each RVAjazzfest-related post between now and the event. Hopefully that list will be growing. Support from the community is going to be crucial to the success of RVAjazzfest.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you in February!

RVAjazzfest is made possible by the generous support of Richmond Jazz Society, Incorporated, RVA Magazine, Francis J. Balint & Associates, and Urban Views Weekly