Various - Patchwork: A Tribute To James Booker

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:31
Size: 136.3 MB
Styles: Jazz-blues
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[3:55] 1. Leigh Harris - All Around The World
[3:37] 2. Henry Butler - Dr. James
[4:29] 3. Josh Paxton - Papa Was A Rascal
[3:15] 4. Marcia Ball - If You're Lonely
[3:28] 5. Tom McDermott - Keep On Gwine
[5:14] 6. Leigh Harris - Please Send Me Someone To Love
[4:52] 7. Sandford Hinderlie - Angel Eyes
[4:03] 8. Josh Paxton - On The Sunny Side Of The Street
[2:35] 9. Marcia Ball - Classified
[3:37] 10. Tom McDermott - Pops Dilemma
[3:58] 11. Josh Paxton - Minuet In Funk
[3:09] 12. Marcia Ball - All By Myself
[4:03] 13. Henry Butler - Booker Time
[2:55] 14. Joe Krown - Miss Celie's Mood
[3:01] 15. Tom McDermott - One For Booker
[3:14] 16. Leigh Harris - Providence Provides

Certainly one of the most flamboyant New Orleans pianists in recent memory, James Carroll Booker III was a major influence on the local rhythm & blues scene in the '50s and '60s. Booker's training included classical instruction until age 12, by which time he had already begun to gain recognition as a blues and gospel organist on radio station WMRY every Sunday. By the time he was out of high school he had recorded on several occasions, including his own first release, "Doing the Hambone," in 1953. In 1960, he made the national charts with "Gonzo," an organ instrumental, and over the course of the next two decades played and recorded with artists as varied as Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, Ringo Starr, the Doobie Brothers, and B.B. King. In 1967, he was convicted of possession of heroin and served a one-year sentence at Angola Penitentiary (referred to as the "Ponderosa"), which took the momentum out of an otherwise promising career. The rediscovery of "roots" music by college students during the '70s (focusing primarily on "Fess" by Professor Longhair) provided the opportunity for a comeback by 1974, with numerous engagements at local clubs like Tipitina's, The Maple Leaf, and Snug Harbor. As with "Fess," Booker's performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivals took on the trappings of legendary "happenings," and he often spent his festival earnings to arrive in style, pulling up to the stage in a rented Rolls Royce and attired in costumes befitting the "Piano Prince of New Orleans," complete with a cape. Such performances tended to be unpredictable: he might easily plant some Chopin into a blues tune or launch into a jeremiad on the CIA with all the fervor of a "Reverend Ike-meets-Moms Mabley" tag-team match.

Patchwork:A Tribute To James Booker 

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Tom McDermott & His Jazz Hellions - S/T

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:18
Size: 119.8 MB
Styles: Piano jazz, new Orleams jazz
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[3:27] 1. Jubilee
[3:03] 2. Douce Ambiance
[3:01] 3. Avalon
[3:49] 4. Summer
[2:51] 5. They All Asked For You
[5:17] 6. I Wished On The Moon
[3:22] 7. Um A Zero
[4:18] 8. Once In A While (Butler)
[4:12] 9. Let Them Talk
[2:38] 10. Kermit's Rag
[2:33] 11. Alligator Crawl
[4:22] 12. The Mooche
[2:45] 13. Little Rock Getaway
[2:56] 14. For Brenda
[3:38] 15. Twilight In Turkey

Tom McDermott, piano; Jack Maheu, clarinet; Connie Jones, cornet; Steve Yocum, trombone; Matt Perrine, bass; Richard Taylor, drums...with Tony Green; Dan Levinson , tenor sax; Tim LaughIin and Jeffrey Walker, clarinets on #3; Dave Sager, trombone and Leigh "Lil Queenic" Harris.

Tom McDermott is one of New Orleans’ premiere piano players and composers. He grew up in St. Louis, where he earned a Masters’ Degree in Music, wrote music journalism for the morning paper, and soaked up the sounds of ragtime and traditional jazz that flourished there in the 1960s and 70s. In 1984, spurred by his love of James Booker, Professor Longhair and Dr. John, he moved to New Orleans, a trip enabled by a gig at the World’s Fair. Tom has been quite busy the last 30 years. For much of the 1990s he was a Duke of Dixieland, which took him to Europe, Asia, South America and all over the States (including Carnegie Hall); he recorded several albums with the Dukes, including a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton with the fabled raconteur Danny Barker.

In 1995, after arranging a tune for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band album “Jelly,” he co-founded the modern brass band the New Orleans Nightcrawlers. During his stay with the band they recorded three albums, two for the Rounder Records label. Tom has written for the theatre (the Obie-award-winning off-Broadway show, “Nita and Zita”), and appeared in bit roles in the movies (“He Said She Said”). In the New Orleans-based HBO series “Treme,” he played himself five times in three seasons and had 10 pieces of music used on the soundtrack. His original music has also appeared in Showtimes’ “The Knick.” He has recorded 15 albums as a leader, and there is more info on these recordings in the CDs section. These recordings include 75 original tunes. His music has been heard frequently on NPR, i.e. “All Things Considered”, “American Routes”, and “The Moth.” A group he co-led with clarinetist Evan Christopher, the Danza Quartet, appeared on NPR’s New Year’s Eve show “Toast of the Nation” on 2008-2009.

Tom is known for his eclecticism, and is just about the only New Orleans pianist to stretch from the mid-19th-century music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk to the funky New Orleans piano today. He has a great love of Brazilian music (17 trips there so far), the Beatles, European classical music, early Duke Ellington, and much more. In addition to music, Tom is a voracious traveller: he’s visited all 50 states and six continents, and writes about them whenever he can.

Tom McDermott & His Jazz Hellions

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Tom McDermott - Choro Do Norte

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:00
Size: 135.1 MB
Styles: Piano & Clarinet jazz
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[5:12] 1. Casa Denise
[3:37] 2. Atrapado
[5:04] 3. Santa Teresa
[2:43] 4. Choro For Tom
[3:29] 5. Sweetheart Of Mine
[5:20] 6. Swipesy Cakewalk
[3:29] 7. Lizinha
[5:29] 8. Heliotrope Bouquet
[3:09] 9. Choro #1
[5:23] 10. Estatico
[2:48] 11. Realidade É Saudade
[5:39] 12. The Chrysanthemum
[3:35] 13. Driving With Jacob
[3:57] 14. Bamboula

Tom McDermott – Piano; Evan Christopher – Clarinet; Rick Trolsen – Trumpet.

Tom McDermott and his frequent partner Evan Christopher are two of the most creative and forward looking jazz musicians in New Orleans. To call Evan Christopher a world class jazz clarinetist is an understatement. He virtually defines the class, although there are a few players in New Orleans who just might want to challenge that viewpoint! McDermott is a superlative traditional pianist, but he prefers to focus his creative energies on composition.

It is some 20 years now since the well traveled Mr. McDermott first started hearing, then playing, and then creating Brazilian choros. The choro is generally defined as a combination of African, Native Indian and Portuguese music, just one of several types that come to us from Brazil. The samba and bossa nova are two related but different genres. All of them have something of a jazz feel. What makes the choro unique though, is that it goes back as far as the 1870s, but is still evolving today. Early choros have been compared to American ragtime. Some of the pieces on this CD emphasize that relationship, including three Scott Joplin rags.

What makes this CD different, and you’ll know it from the very first cut onward, is the Brazilian rhythm section; three young musicians playing respectively a tambourine related percussion instrument known as the pandeiro, a bandolim, which is the Portuguese version of a mandolin, and a seven string guitar, which has become increasingly popular with guitarists in general and especially with modern jazzmen. The Brazilian musicians are not the only additions to this CD that make the sounds so different. There is also Rick Trolsen on trombone, and, for one cut each, Ray Moore on flute, and Matt Perrine on tuba. ~Steve Steinberg

Choro Do Norte mc
Choro Do Norte zippy

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Tom McDermott & Evan Christopher - Almost Native

Styles: Jazz, New Orleans
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:20
Size: 124,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:18)  1. Tango Ambiguo
(4:53)  2. Heavy Henry
(5:09)  3. Waltz for All Souls
(4:06)  4. Le Menage Rouge
(7:14)  5. Spooky Blues
(1:58)  6. The Don't Mess with my Two Step
(4:11)  7. Chorando Em Paris
(5:16)  8. Tande Sak Fe Loraj Gwonde
(3:57)  9. Musette in A Minor
(4:35) 10. March of the Pony Girls
(7:38) 11. Irresistivel

Avant-garde art has been described as seeking innovation through experimentation, preferring novelty to formula and defying existing convention. The term "avant-garde traditionalism" could be a way to describe the music of New Orleans pianist Tom McDermott. Although it is rooted in the traditions of his adopted city, he pushes boundaries with his quirky compositions and interest in eclectic styles, such as Brazilian choro, McDermott, active there since 1984, is not as well known outside of New Orleans as he deserves to be. Over the years he has made a series of duets with the clarinetist Evan Christopher, the doyen of the New Orleans Contemporary /traditional new wave. Almost Native is their third collaboration.

The pairing of McDermott and Christopher is an interesting one. Christopher, one of the most expressive musicians in jazz today, is the primary exponent today of the New Orleans clarinet tradition of Sidney Bechet and Barney Bigard where emotional expression was emphasized. In contrast, McDermott takes a utilitarian approach to the piano in the tradition of Jelly Roll Morton where simplicity of interpretation provides a good contrast to Christopher's dynamism. You never feel they're trying to compete with each other; there's always a sense of collaboration much like a dance team in which both have the chance to individually shine.

Almost Native, consists of nine selections written by McDermott and two by Christopher. Subtitled Music From New Orleans and Beyond, Almost Native also explores tangential styles including tango, musette and beguine. It is a mélange of emotional moods and scenes. This range includes the mystery of a dark New Orleans Tango Quarter street in "Tango Ambiguo," the nostalgic musette "Le Ménage Rouge," the appropriately named Monkish "Spooky Blues" to the playful rhumba rhythm of "Heavy Henry." The dancing Brazilian Choro is represented by "Choro Em Paris" and the bonus track originally on the CD New Orleans Duets (Rabadash Records 2009), "Irresitivel." Christopher plays particularly tenderly on his own contribution, the gospel waltz "A Waltz for All Souls" and passionately on his beguine "Tande Sak Fe Loraj Gwonde." McDermott solos on the ho downish "The Dont-Mess-With-My Two-Step" and "Musette in A Minor." His most exciting moment is when he breaks into full stride in "March of the Pony Girls" while Christopher plays obbligato behind him. At the end is a sweet surprise where his solo piano selection Musette in A Minor is reprised on the Accordion.

The piano/horn jazz duet does not come quickly to mind as being part of the New Orleans jazz tradition but this format was first recorded by Jelly Roll Morton and Joseph "King" Oliver in 1924. Almost Native is an emotionally satisfying addition to this tradition. ~ Louis Heckheimer  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40725#.Umq-2RAueZc

Personnel: Tom McDermott: piano; Evan Christopher: clarinet.

Almost Native

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