Diaa Bekheet | Washington, DC – An album called Change of the Century ushered in a new jazz style that later became known as “Free Jazz”.  This music style features songs that break the traditional rules of melody allowing the musicians more latitude to go beyond the limitations of bebop and modal jazz.

The world first learned of “Free Jazz” in 1959 when American Alto Saxophonist Ornette Coleman walked into a Hollywood music studio with bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Billy Higgins and pocket trumpeter Don Cherry. They recorded Change of the Century, which produced the quartet’s most famous song: “Ramblin”:

For the Coleman quartet, it was all exciting, new music. They didn’t want to sound like other traditional jazz players of the time. They sought a greater sense of freedom. Coleman considered sound an invisible emotion combining various moods.

Saxophonist Ornette Coleman performs with his quartet at the Skopje Jazz Festival, in Macedonia, Oct. 2006. (AP)

Change of the Century contains seven compositions by Coleman, including the title cut:

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Free

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Bird Food

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Coleman’s first album, The Shape of Jazz to Come, had laid the foundation for “Free Jazz.” Many musicians and jazz lovers alike were shocked that the songs had no recognizable chord structure but contained free style simultaneous improvisation.

Some were disappointed, but Coleman believed that jazz must be free.  “The Theme you play at the start of a number is the territory,” he explained in a documentary about Free Jazz. “And what comes after, which may have very little to do with it, is the adventure.”

Rolling Stone magazine ranks Coleman’s album, The Shape of Jazz to Come, number 246 on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Coleman has lots of fans in Europe. In addition to performing at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, he was the artistic director of the 16th annual Meltdown festival held in London’s Southbank Centre. Previous curators include David Bowie, (Steven Patrick) Morrissey, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Jarvis Cocker, Massive Attack, John Peel and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

In 2007, Coleman received a Grammy award for Lifetime Achievement and a Pulitzer Prize in the music category for “Sound Grammar”.  He is only the second jazz composer to ever win a Pulitzer.

The ‘Master of Free Jazz,’ was born this month, on March 9, 1930. He turned 81.

For more on jazz music, listen to VOA’s Jazz America

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Diaa Bekheet | Washington, DC – A day after a series of powerful earthquakes struck northeastern Japan on Friday, I surfed YouTube looking for video clips of the aftermath. The scene is awful. But I came across a clip of a familiar song by Japanese American jazz group Hiroshima with a footnote appealing for help for the earthquake and tsunami victims.

The song is “One Wish,” and the appeal reads:

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“Please, Japan needs your support. Not just in finances but in your thoughts and prayers. The land of the rising sun shall see the sun again, but it needs your help desperately.”

The carefully selected 1985 hit song injects more passion into Asian-Americans in general and second and third generation of Japanese Americans in particular. The name, One Wish, is telling, and the simple message is: Japan needs you.

One Wish is part of the popular album Best of Hiroshima. It mirrors Hiroshima’s musical philosophy, blending Asian and North American music to reflect both cultural and spiritual undertones.

Hiroshima, one of the most popular jazz-fusion groups in the U.S. has been making music for 30 years. The group was formed in the early 1970s by saxophonist Dan Kuramoto, famed koto player June Kuramoto (koto is a string instrument – and yes, Dan and June are married), percussionist and taiko player Johnny Mori, keyboardist Dave Iwataki and drummer Danny Yamamoto. June is the only band member not from the US, she was born in  Saitama Prefecture around Tokyo and grew up in Los Angeles.  The group bears the name of the Japanese city that became the first in history to be destroyed by an atomic bomb at the end of World War II.

Hiroshima attracts many Asian-Americans who identify with the group’s colorful mix of Eastern tunes and melodically rich American smooth jazz.  Among their many career highlights are: being featured in the 1976 documentary Cruisin’ J-Town and opening for late jazz legend Miles Davis during his 1990 world tour.

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The Asian American and Japanese American communities consider Hiroshima as a musical pioneer. The group is widely believed to be the first to introduce distinctively Japanese instruments, including koto and the taiko drum, to the world of jazz music. More on Hiroshima here.

For more on jazz music, listen to VOA’s Jazz America

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Emre Kartari

Diaa Bekheet | Washington, DC – Emre Kartari is a young jazz musician with a mission. He wants to musically bridge two cultures.  The 35-year-old drummer feels there’s a shortage of information on Jazz in Turkey. He sought and got help from his music teachers in New York and Virginia, in the United States, to start teaching jazz at a Turkish university.

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With the support of the American Embassy in Ankara and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Kartari invited his former jazz teachers to Turkey to join him in a special performance.  He says it sounded like a dream.

The jazz group included an all star cast featuring: Saxophonist Skip Gailes, Rex Richardson on trumpet, pianist Bob Hallahan, guitarist Adam Larrabee, bassist Mike Richmond, percussionist Tim Collins, and drummer Howard Curtis.

Teacher, and former director of the jazz studies at VCU, Doug Richards, arranged the Turkish folk song “Ben seni sevdigimi dunyalara bildirdim” for the Hacettepe Ankara State Conservatory Orchestra, and Kanun soloist Ahmet Baran.

Kartari, who released three personal albums and working on a fourth CD, is adding orient-influenced beats and musical styles to jazz music, thus bridging the gap between the American and Turkish cultures.

For more on jazz music, listen to VOA’s Jazz America
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Diaa Bekheet | Washington, DC – Anytime I hear the word “Birdland,” I get nostalgic. It reminds me of the good old days when I used to take strolls from midtown Manhattan to the west side of Broadway, watching the skyscrapers in the “Big Apple” — New York City. The year was 1996.  At the time, fabulous “Birdland” — a commercially-successful fusion song by the Weather Report, had become a jazz standard. It  was blaring as I passed by Manhattan’s re-born “Birdland Jazz Club”, “The Jazz corner of the world” as it was labeled by jazz legend Charlie Parker.

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Saxophonist Charlie Parker, nicknamed “Bird” inspired Morris & Irving Levy to open a club named “Birdland” in New York City, 62 years ago.

Birdland Jazz Club originally opened its doors in the winter of 1949. Within five years, it had attracted nearly 1.5 million people, each paying $1.50 admission to sample the one-of-a-kind atmosphere and enjoy live gigs. Performers like Charlie Parker and Count Basie and his big band played from 9:00 PM until dawn. But the club’s fortunes started to decline in the 1960s when Rock & Roll music started attracting many Birdland fans. Sadly, the club closed its doors in 1965.

Among the many other jazz greats who performed live at Birdland, we find: Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Lester Young, John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Stan Getz and others.

Also at Birdland, Count Basie and his smokin’ big band recorded George Shearing‘s “Lullaby of Birdland” live. Shearing, the British pianist who overcame blindness to become a worldwide jazz star, died at 91 two weeks ago.

More on Birdland here with Russ Davis:

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For more on jazz music, listen to VOA’s Jazz America
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