M A R C H 2 0 0 6 Sound Check

Gerry Mulligan
Charles Mingus
Duke Ellington
Sound Check:
Featured in the
APRIL issue of
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78212-7200
ONE TRINITY PLACE
TRINITY UNIVERSITY
KRTU-FM 91.7
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. Postage
P A I D
Permit No. 210
San Antonio, Texas 78212
MARCH 2006
Sound Check
Chick Corea and Touchstone
March 18 | Laurie Auditorium
Top Spins
Break Up Break Down
She Went Black | Cordless
Those who think garage rock is dead
are sadly mistaken. Break Up Break
Down proves that garage rock is
indeed alive, living in NYC and at
KRTU. Their latest release, She
Went Black, contains everything from
jangly guitars to danceable beats all
with catchy lyrics. It is a new classic,
and we’re predicting it to be a new
favorite of yours as well.
The Czars
Goodbye | Bella Union
If mellow tones are more in line with
your attitude, then the new release
from The Czars is right up your alley.
Owing a debt of gratitude to Beck’s
Sea Change, Goodbye is this year’s
first real tearjerker, a cathartic
experience that you will not feel sad
for purchasing.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
House Arrest | Paw Tracks
Looking for something to listen to
while waiting for the new Animal
Collective album? Check out Ariel
Pink’s new effort titled, House
Arrest. It’s not as dense as Animal
Collective, but low-fi recording quality
and sheer energy more than make up
for it. It is so good that Animal
Collective promotes it through their
own personal label, Paw Tracks. Add
this album to your must-have list.
Upcoming
LIVE FROM STUDIO A
Thursdays 10 pm
March 2
Blowing Trees
March 9
Hurts to Purr
March 16 SOUND Team
March 23 Knife in the
Water
March 30 Ari Fouk
CONCERT CALENDAR
KRTU Benefit Concert:
Things That Go Pop!
The Cemetery Hips
March 1 | Sam’s Burger Joint
SXSW XX
March 10 - 19 | Various (ATX)
Ted Leo
March 15 | The Sanctuary
The Hellacopters
March 17 | The Sanctuary
Minus the Bears
March 17 | White Rabbit
Sterolab
March 24 | La Zona Rosa (ATX)
Franz Ferdinand
March 29 | The Backyard (ATX)
Voxtrot
March 31 | The Sanctuary
For more information visit www.krtu.org/noc_trans
March
11
From the Booth
Grandaddy / Excerpts . . of Todd Zilla
Grandaddy’s latest EP, 2005’s Excerpts from the
Diary of Todd Zilla, has received little attention and
airplay, and after a quick review it is easy to see why.
The opener, “Pull the Curtains,” begins well enough, but
then thrashing guitars quickly kill the mood. If harsh
guitar work is not enough to turn off Grandaddy fans,
then perhaps the screaming vocals on “Florida” will
sour listeners’ moods. The five remaining tracks are standard, mellow
Grandaddy tunes, tainted at moments by the unnecessary use of
profanity. Even one track (which shall remain nameless) contains an
expletive in the title. Taking all the above into context it is easy to see why
Excerpts... will not be a KRTU favorite. This EP is only for the die-hard
fans that have extra money just lying around to waste. For the rest of us,
just pray that Grandaddy’s next release lives up to the standards of his
brilliant past releases.
Recommended Tracks: None
BRENT EVANS
Sufjan Stevens / Greetings from Michigan
In the first installment of his ridiculously grandiose
fifty states project, Stevens tackles his home state of
Michigan. One can sense the personal nature of the
record from the first track, “Flint,” a bitterly poignant
ballad that would fit right in with the soundtrack to
Roger and Me. And while the signature banjo riffs,
ambient instrumentals, and layered vocals (prevalent throughout 2005’s
Illinois) are present, the album comes off as a far more fragile affair. This
subdued tone helps elevate what could be seen as simply a blueprint for
Illinois into an amazing record in its own right, with tracks such as “The
Upper Peninsula,” “Romulus,” the centerpiece “Detroit, Lift Up Your
Weary Head,” and the closer “Vito’s Ordination Song” being obvious
stand-outs. If Michigan proves anything, it’s that Stevens is an artist fully
capable of producing any sort of music to near perfection, and makes the
prospect of another 48 albums from him that much more appealing.
Recommended Tracks: 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 15.
J.D. SWERZENSKI
10
Sound Check
Dear Members:
Thank you.
Though I am writing this before our Spring
fund drive begins, by the time this publication
gets to your door, our fund drive will be long
over. All the hard work of the KRTU staff,
community volunteers, and our students will
have paid off thanks to listeners like you. For
all of our returning members, I want to
reiterate how much we appreciate your
continued support. You are the foundation of
our success. As for all our new members,
welcome. This is your first issue of the KRTU
member newsletter, just one of the benefits of
being a KRTU supporter. By answering our
call you have become part of an exciting
experiment in jazz radio that is happening right
here in San Antonio.
This experiment starts with a professional
staff that is passionate and knowledgeable
about jazz, a music library that continues to
add both hard-to-get classics and the latest
challenging cuts, community volunteers who
give their own time and music for specialty
shows, students who learn by hands-on
experience, and a university committed to the
arts. Add our members, both old and new, and
we have all the ingredients necessary to
create and sustain one of the greatest jazz
radio stations in the nation. Thanks to you,
KRTU is thriving.
Whether it’s playing great jazz seventeen
hours every day of the year, bringing worldclass jazz musicians to San Antonio through
the Carver | Trinity Jazz Collaborative, or
growing jazz in San Antonio by sponsoring
workshops or giving away concert tickets to
middle school and high school students, it’s
thanks to your help that KRTU is on the move.
Welcome, it’s going to be a great ride.
I hope to see you at the Chick Corea and
Touchstone concert on March 18th! Thanks
again for your support.
WILLIAM G. CHRIST
KRTU
MANAGERS
General Manager
Dr. William Christ
[email protected]
(210) 999-8116
Faculty Station Manager
Dr. Rob Huesca
[email protected]
(210) 999-8169
Operations Manager
Ryan Weber
[email protected]
(210) 999-8151
Music Director
Aaron Prado
[email protected]
(210) 999-8159
Director of Underwriting
Matt Fleeger
[email protected]
(210) 999-8053
Director of Development
Yvette Nevarez
[email protected]
(210) 999-8337
Secretary
Brad Fox
[email protected]
(210) 999-8158
STUDENT
STAFF
Student Station Manager
Nick Cladis
Jazz Manager
Paul Feinstein
College Rock Manager
Brent Evans
CONTACT
Telephone
999-8313 Listener Line
999-8917 KRTU Office
Mailing Address
One Trinity Place
San Antonio, TX 78212
E-mail Address
[email protected]
March
3
Chick Digs Jazz
In Webster’s Dictionary, the
word “touchstone” is defined as “a
test or criterion for determining the
quality or genuineness of a thing.”
How fitting, then that Touchstone
is the name of Chick Corea’s latest
band, which will take the stage at
Trinity University’s Laurie
Auditorium March 18 in the next
Carver | Trinity Jazz Collaborative
concert event. For over forty
years, Chick Corea has been
setting a standard of quality,
genuineness, and variety with the
dozens of albums and projects
he’s fronted.
For sheer variety of style, there
may be no more impressive
catalogue than Corea’s. You name
it, he’s done it, from straight-ahead
to fusion, classical music to
abstract avant-garde, electric to
acoustic, solo to large ensemble.
Through this long journey, Corea
has remained an unpredictable
innovator, and comparisons to his
contemporary and fellow keyboard
virtuoso, Herbie Hancock, are
unavoidable. However, while
Hancock is an artist of and for the
4
Sound Check
people, Corea seems to have
largely taken his own path, favoring
the esoteric road.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts
in 1941, Armando Anthony Corea
began playing the piano at age
four. During his early musical
training, Corea studied the giants
of both jazz and classical music,
developing quickly as both an
improviser and composer. In his
early twenties, Corea paid his dues
by working with prominent bands
led by Blue Mitchell, Cal Tjader,
Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah
Vaughan, and even Cab Calloway.
The crown jewel of Corea’s early
years, however, is undoubtedly
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs from
1968. With bassist Miroslav
Virtous and drummer Roy Haynes,
this classic trio album caused a
sensation when it was released
and remains as fresh today as it
was 38 years ago. Thereafter,
Corea’s star continued to rise
with a stint playing in Miles Davis’
band. With Miles, Corea played
electric keyboards for the first time
and played to huge audiences,
including 600,000 at the legendary
Isle of Wight festival in England.
After leaving Miles in 1971, Corea
formed a group that would prove to
be the most popular of his career.
In its original incarnation, Return to
Forever relied heavily on a
Brazilian-tinged sound that scored
big with listeners on two classic
LPs. With the departure of vocalist
Flora Purim and percussionist Airto
Moreira, RTF evolved into a more
tougher, grittier, guitar-driver,
rock-infused ensemble that proved
Top Spins
Hiromi
Sprial | Telarc
The third release from the young
pianist picks up where the first two
left off. With impressive original
compositions, including a four-part
suite for “Three-piece Orchestra,”
Hiromi covers a wide spectrum of
straight-ahead and modern fusion
moods.
David “Fathead” Newman
Cityscape | Highnote
It might just seem like another
superlative release from the
ageless master of saxophone and
flute, but this release also
celebrates Newman’s 50th year
as a recording artist. For the
occasion, he offers up nine hip
arrangements played by an
all-star septet.
Larry Goldings
Quartet | Palmetto
Goldings is a wizard of the
keyboards. His mastery of the
piano, fender rhodes, wulritzer,
and Hammond organ have made
him a first-call sideman in New
York. For this leader project,
Goldings shows off his entire
arsenal of instruments. With
drummer Matt Wilson, bassist Ben
Allison, and a special guest
appearance by vocalist Madeleine
Peyroux, this album is a winner.
Upcoming
.
BIRTHDAY BROADCAST
Quincy Jones
March 14 | 5 am - 10 pm
.
LUNCH FEATURES
Monday-Friday, 11 am-1 pm
Ornette Coleman | Tenor Sax
March 6 - 10
Chick Corea | Piano, Arranger
March 13 - 17
Kenny Dorham | Trumpet
March 20 - 24
Lost Masters IV | Miscellaneous
March 27 - 31
.
UPCOMING CONCERTS
Chick Corea and Touchstone
March 18 | Laurie Auditorium
Tickets available at all
Ticketmaster locations, or by
phone at (210)-224-9600
growing
jazz in
san antonio
A commitment to
the next generation.
Help support at
growingjazz.org
For more information visit www.krtu.org
March
9
to be one of the most influential
electric groups of the 1970s.
After Return to Forever disbanded
in 1977, Corea went in many
stylistic directions on a number of
different projects. Some albums
had unifying themes, like The
Leprechaun, The Mad Hatter, and
Secret Agent. Others, like Three
Quartets and Lyric Suite For
Sextets focused on extended
composition. Corea continued his
electric forays in the 1980s with his
Elektric Band, which put out a
string of highly acclaimed album
through the early 1990s. As the
1990s wore on, Corea more and
more returned to acoustic music.
Aside from exciting duo projects
with Bobby McFerrin and long-time
sparring partner Gary Burton,
Corea put together an all-star
ensemble to pay tribute to Bud
Powell and Thelonious Monk. In
1997, Corea had a busy year,
recording an album of Mozart piano
concertos with Bobby McFerrin and
the St. Louis Orchestra, and also
formed an exciting new band called
Origin, with whom he recorded
three albums. The new millennium
has found Corea back in the
acoustic piano solo and trio
settings, again recording with a full
orchestra, and, of course,
electrified. Despite these recent
successes, Corea’s latest project,
Touchstone, is by far his most
exciting and innovative in decades.
Touchstone brings the buoyancy of
the original Return to Forever band
together with Spanish Flamenco
sounds and plenty of lively
improvisation and group interaction.
We hope to see you at Laurie
Auditorium when this group takes
the stage March 18.
AARON PRADO
The Right Time for Prime Time
Give Me More, Kenny Dorham
By liberating western classical music from
the constraints of diatonic harmony with his
twelve-tone row system, Arnold Schoenberg
became the most controversial classical
composer of the 20th century. In jazz, Ornette
Coleman is an analogous figure. His
harmolodic theory of jazz composition and
improvisation spawned monumental
recordings that exhibited a previously-unheard
freedom of melody, harmony, and structure.
As a result, Coleman became at once the
vanguard figure of the “free jazz” movement in the early 1960s and the
most controversial jazz musician of the last fifty years.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1930, Coleman began on the alto
saxophone at age fourteen, performing with local R&B bands. Coleman
settled in Los Angeles in his early 20s and soon found himself in league
with musicians sympathetic to his unorthodox concepts. After recording his
first two albums as a leader with Contemporary Records, Coleman signed
with Atlantic Records in 1959, at which point he also relocated to the East
coast and attended the Lennox School of Jazz through a composition
scholarship secured with the aid of John Lewis. The Ornette Coleman
Quartet debuted at the Five Spot in the fall of 1959, receiving international
attention. Shortly thereafter, the release of The Shape of Jazz to Come
became a landmark statement for “free jazz.” Coleman followed this
success by recording seven classic albums for between 1959-62 which
remain definitive statements of controlled freedom in jazz. During the late
1960s, in addition to touring and recording, Coleman concentrated heavily
on composition.1972’s Skies of America showcased Coleman’s
harmolodic concepts as applied to a symphony orchestra. Coleman
formed his popular fusion band Prime Time in 1975, and a decade later,
Coleman collaborated with guitarist Pat Metheny on the transcendent
Song X. Ever the innovative composer and performer, Coleman, however
controversial, has secured a impressive legacy in modern jazz.
AARON PRADO / PAUL FEINSTEIN
An exceptional, lyrical trumpeter, Kenny
Dorham was more than the “next guy” who
replaced Miles Davis in the Charlie Parker
quintet from 1948-50 and Clifford Brown in the
Max Roach quintet from 1956-58. Instead,
Dorham was an extremely adaptable
performer, a gifted improviser, and composer
of enduring jazz standards such as “Blue
Bossa” and “Whistle Stop”.
Dorham began his career by performing in
notable big bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Billy
Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, and Mercer Ellington from 1945-48. After his
tenure with Charlie Parker, Dorham began to freelance in New York City in
the early 1950s. Dorham was a leading voice for hardbop, a style derived
from the virtuosity and harmonic sophistication of bebop but with more
emphasis on a blues feeling. In 1954 Dorham was a founding member of
one of the quintessential hardbop groups: Horace Silver’s - later Art
Blakey’s - Jazz Messengers. With the group, including tenor saxophonist
Hank Mobley and bassist Doug Watkins, Dorham excelled as a soloist on
the classic Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers album. During the
1950s and 1960s, Dorham found himself in plum sideman roles with
notables such as John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Oliver Nelson, Tadd
Dameron, J.J. Johnson, and Sonny Rollins. In addition, he assumed the
trumpet chair in Max Roach’s group after Clifford Brown’s tragic death,
performing brilliantly on the 1957 Max Roach + 4 sessions. However,
Dorham’s three Blue Note albums from 1961-64, namely Whistle Stop,
Una Mas, and Trompeta Toccata, are widely considered his greatest
recordings. Dorham would sparingly record after the mid-1960s,
succumbing to kidney failure in 1972. While Dorham never received the
international acclaim that several of his fellow trumpeters enjoyed, he was
nevertheless an exceptional performer, key member and soloist of some
of the most renowned groups in jazz history. Get hip with Kenny Dorham
during the lunch feature March 20 - 24.
PAUL FEINSTEIN
6
Sound Check
March
7