The Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival

One of the Seacoast’s long running cultural events, the Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival will take place on Sunday, July 5, at Prescott Park. The festival runs from noon until 6 p.m. and will once again feature an array of local and regional talent performing over four 75-minute sets. Sorry, fans of vocal jazz—the emphasis of this year’s event is purely on the instrumental side. The list of performers includes Billy Novick’s Blues Syncopators, and saxophonist Fred Haas and guitarist Dave Newsam leading a segment titled the “LA4 Tribute to saxophonist Bud Shank.” Then there’s The Press Room Trio of Ryan Parker, John Lockwood and Les Harris Jr. performing with guests Trent Austin on trumpet and David Wells on saxophone, plus the Seacoast Big Band, directed by Dave Seiler.

The festival celebrates the legacy of the late Tom Gallant, founder and long-time centerpiece of Sunday Jazz at The Press Room in Portsmouth. Gallant, who passed away in 1998, and Dave Seiler helped organize the annual event, initially dubbed the Seacoast Jazz Festival, after the demise of the Portsmouth Jazz Festival in early 1996. Renamed the Tommy Gallant/Seacoast Jazz Festival in 1999, the concert has long been a showcase for local and regional talent with performers of international stature, such as guitarist Howard Alden, vocalist Luciana Souza and trumpeter Bobby Shew, also appearing at the festival.

A few words about the performers. Novick’s group performs music rooted in the early traditions of blues and jazz. Novick is a remarkable clarinet and saxophone player who is also noted for his long-running association with guitarist Guy Van Duser. The Haas/Newsam collaboration examines the music of one of the 1970s lesser known jazz ensembles, the L.A.4, of which the late Bud Shank was an integral member on saxophone and flute. Bassist John Hunter and drummer Les Harris will round out the group. The Press Room Trio carries on the Tommy Gallant legacy by accompanying various jazz artists every Sunday at the Portsmouth establishment. Featuring young performers like Wells and Austin fits right into the trio’s approach to jazz. Finally, the Seacoast Big Band is in its 31st year of keeping the big band flame burning in the local area. Among the performers in the band are saxophonists Charlie Jennison and Marc LaForce, drummer Ken Clark, bassist John Hunter and Craig Skeffington on trumpet, who also contributes incisive arrangements to the band’s book.

The festival is a good family oriented event in a fantastic setting, so if you’re looking for a nice way to wrap up the holiday weekend or to start a vacation, head over to the park for an afternoon of superb music in a relaxed open air setting.

Time’s up for Jazz Times?

The news early last month about the sudden shut-down of Jazz Times magazine took the international jazz community by surprise. On the magazine’s Web site, “An Important Notice from Jazz Times Management” states that the magazine has “…temporarily suspended publication…and has furloughed the bulk of its staff while it finalizes a sale of its asset.” The notice further states that the magazine will “…undergo reorganization and restructuring in order to remain competitive in the current media climate.” The notice closes by stating that Jazz Times will resume publishing once the sale is completed and that updates and further info will be posted at www.jazztimes.com.

Given the state of print media over the past couple of years, this is not all that surprising, especially for a niche publication like Jazz Times. But, it’s also not that surprising from a personal standpoint. For several years now, I’ve had mixed feelings about JT’s overall mission. While the chief competition, Down Beat magazine, continues to explore new avenues within the improvised music world, JT seemed content to sit back and produce the same or similar articles in the same month that DB was publishing. I also felt that JT was over-emphasizing the so called “smooth jazz” genre in its pages. In its earlier years, Jazz Times was usually a fresh alternative to Down Beat in terms of story content, reviews, etc. Here’s hoping management will be able to follow through on the restructuring and that a new and reinvigorated Jazz Times will emerge that once again offers an alternative approach to its content.

Jazz Journalist Association Awards

The Jazz Journalist Association, an international organization made up of print and electronic journalists, artist and producers, recently held its annual JJA Awards at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Winners were selected in 55 different categories ranging from Lifetime Achievement to Musician of the Year to awards for excellence on individual instruments, ensembles and in the area of journalism. Among the winners were saxophonist Lee Konitz who won the Lifetime Achievement in Jazz; saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who won both Musician of the Year and the Tenor Saxophone category; composer Maria Schneider, who won both Large Ensemble of the Year and Arranger of the Year; and Brian Blade, for Jazz Drummer of the Year.

In an ironic twist, Jazz Times was selected Periodical of the Year, and the Best Book About Jazz award went to author-musician George Lewis for his book “A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music,” a thorough and in-depth look at Chicago’s renowned music collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. For a complete list of the JJA award winners, visit www.jazzhouse.org.