Washington, D.C. (Top40 Charts/ Michael Wolff Official Website) - Acclaimed jazz pianist Michael Wolff's appearance at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. is confirmed for broadcast on NPR Jazzset on April 1st. The performance will air on 119 NPR stations nationwide, and via jazzset.npr.org. Airdates on WBGO in New York will be Sunday, April 4th at 6pm and Wednesday, April 7th at 6:30pm. Wolff recently wrapped up a successful multi-weekend stand at his beloved Knickerbocker club in lower Manhattan (and plans a return for April 23rd and 24th.) Wolff has a great affinity for the room, which he described as the 'only venerable restaurant/jazz joint left in NYC.' His recollections were featured in a JazzTimes.com essay, reprinted below.
In May, Michael Wolff heads to the West Coast for a pair of shows. His live shows have become known for their unpredictability, humor and high-octane punch. In fact, in a live review of a Wolff concert this summer, The San Jose Mercury News raved, 'all of the music felt very full and passionately alive.'
MAY 10TH - YOSHI'S - SAN FRANCISCO:
Michael Wolff on piano, joined by Bay area drummer Akira Tana, Barry Finnery on guitar and Aaron Germain on bass.
MAY 14TH - VITELLO'S - STUDIO CITY/LOS ANGELES:
Shows at 8pm and 10pm
Michael Wolff on piano, joined by Bob Sheppard on tenor and soprano sax, Brian Bromberg on bass and Michael Barsimanto on drums.
Visit www.michaelwolff.com for a full itinerary of upcoming appearances.
At the upcoming concerts, Wolff will continue to explore a new approach to playing he's taken in recent months: 'I discovered a new way of improvising on chords that is actually very simple, but sounds very fresh to me, and, incorporated with my other tools, is exciting to me. I was practicing on one of my older songs, Little M, from my Jumpstart CD, and just outlining the chords and arpeggiating them, and I found a really great way to connect them together and stagger them rhythmically. I don't hear pianists do this much, and it helps to break me away from playing scales, which feel over used, at least by me. So, I'm having fun playing with this new improvisational material, which is not harmonically dissonant, but seems unique. I don't think it's anything earthshaking in and of itself, except as it applies to piano. It's more of a saxophone approach to piano, which is bigger arpeggios. I'm also combining that with something I discovered and clarified about my own playing and approach when I gave a short lecture/demonstration on Jazz and Tourette's syndrome last fall at a Lincoln Center conference on music and the brain. It was how I use my physical impulsiveness in my playing, putting a certain energy into the musical ideas. It's abstract, but demonstrable.'
Read recent coverage of Michael Wolff, here:
The Villager Newspapers, 3/09:
Village resident Wolff reveals his jazz passions -
Teacher still learning, performer still finding new grooves
BY STEVEN SNYDER 3/09
Pianist and composer Michael Wolff has played jazz in some of the nation's most prestigious venues. He's taught the secrets of the genre to America's top musical students. Yet after all these years, Wolff still prefers jazz experiences that are intimate and low-key; the sort with a little less 'performance' and a little more vibe.
A resident of the West Village for decades and a monthly regular at various New York jazz venues, Wolff says that when it comes to playing - and for that matter listening to - his favorite tunes, there's no city that better respects the jazz spirit and attitude.
For Wolff, it's no debate: 'New York is still the best. In the 40s and 50s, it was this very popular music that you could find everywhere. Today, in some places, it's treated almost like more of an art music, like classical music,' he says. 'But if you head downtown on most nights, and definitely on the weekends, the music is still here the way it was always meant to be. That's why I love clubs like the Knickerbocker, where it's not treated like a concert. Jazz music is part of the whole scene. People are hanging out, drinking, eating, hooking up and being social - and that's the way I came up, where jazz was just another facet of society. It was part of the rhythm of it all.'
That's not to say Wolff has shied away from embracing jazz gigs of a more prestigious variety. Recently, he assembled a trio to play at the Kennedy Center Jazz Club - a performance set for broadcast on National Public Radio's JazzSet on April 1. Even as he's racked up concert accolades through the years (one critic praised him as 'one of the most engaging all-around performers in the jazz game'), Wolff has gone on to be prolific in the recording studio as well - releasing more than a dozen albums.
Wolff, who continues to experiment with his craft, remains a formidable presence not only on the NYC stage, but in the classroom. In addition to headlining a month-long stand at the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill on University Place, he's also made multiple appearances as a guest lecturer in New York University's music department.
Wolff appeared at NYU in both January and February, most recently leading a Master Class with his trio on February 24. The irony of his role as teacher does not escape him. As he was a rising musical prote'ge' in the 1970s, Wolff says he knew that the only way to chase his passion was to hit the road. So he dropped out of school after only two years and traveled with Cal Tjader's band, learning the various schools of jazz from the different musicians he would collaborate with in cities across the country.
At the time, Wolff says to learn the craft was to do the craft - and to hone your skills was to put in the hours on the stage. 'Back then, there was only one book out there to learn from. It was all about getting four or five musicians together and hitting the highway, simple as that,' he says, nothing that today's music programs offer much the same immersion in the genre. 'What's great about the programs is how wide open they are. You can pick your focus and then concentrate on becoming a master. There are so many great programs today in this city, when you talk about NYU, Columbia, Julliard. There was no jazz at Juilliard when I was starting my career.'
If it's easier than ever to learn about jazz, Wolff also appreciates the fact that it's never been more difficult to make a living as a jazz musician. 'You see more venues now that host music two or three nights a week, versus six or seven nights a week like they used to, and nowadays you can't really just be a jazz musician any more. You have to teach, or write music, or do some other things in addition to performing,' Wolff says. 'But the opportunities are still there. As has always been the case: You are only limited by your talent and ambition and persistence. If you can still do all those things - become the best performer possible, be ambitious in what you do and remain endlessly persistent, then you still have a chance.'
During his current stint at the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, Wolff says he's invited some of the most talented, ambitious and persistent performers he has ever known to swing by for guest appearances. He'll be joined by drummer Victor Lewis and bassist Ugonna Okegwo on March 5-6; drummer Mike Clark and bassist Chip Jackson on March 12-13; and drummer Mike Clark and bassist Rich Goods on March 19-20. Wolff says that whenever he organizes hometown shows, he lets other New York musicians know where he'll be and when, hoping that they might hop on stage for a couple numbers as the night goes on.
Wolff says it's these sorts of improvised evenings that remind him of what the New York jazz scene once was. Even though he's watched his neighborhood undergo a stunning transformation in recent decades, gentrifying into something far more safe and chic, it remains home to an artistic community more vibrant and diverse than one will find just about anywhere. 'It's still such a hip neighborhood, and you can see sort of what's going on in Williamsburg now that compares to what happened here,' Wolff says. 'Lots of young people, and so much energy, but today the Village is a little bit safer and more about families. But for jazz, New York is still the place and this is where you can see and find the musicians.'
When not performing or teaching, Wolff says he's also striving to refine a new jazz technique that he stumbled upon while rehearsing for this month's New York performances. 'It's been an exciting few months, but this is why you get into this profession. You want to learn and experiment and work, and I wouldn't have it any other way,' he says. 'It feels good to be busy.'
At the Knickerbocker shows, Wolff plans to present for the first time a new improvisational technique he's been focused on for the last several months. 'I was practicing on one of my older songs, 'Little M,' from my Jumpstart CD, and just outlining the chords and arpeggiating them, and I found a really great way to connect them together and stagger them rhythmically. I don't hear pianists do this much, and it helps to break me away from playing scales, which feel over used, at least by me,' he says. 'The result is a ton of rhythm and more movement. I'm moving quicker, and as a result I think the sound is fresher and more energetic - a different way of approaching things.'
So the teacher is still learning, and the performer is still finding new grooves - and for the next few weekends, Michael Wolff will be stretching himself yet again - in front of familiar crowds, joined by his favorite collaborators. The calendar may say 2010, but you might as well be traveling back in time. Jazz is new again. https://www.thevillager.com/villager_367/villageresident.html
JAZZTIMES.com
Home Is Where the Gig Is
In a new column for JT, pianist Michael Wolff blogs about the special charms of the Knickerbocker...
I love to perform at Knickerbocker. It's the only venerable restaurant/jazz joint left in NYC. When I came to NYC in the mid-seventies, Bradley's and Knickerbocker were the two happening piano bars/restaurant hangs on University Place in the Village. (Bradley's closed down around 10 years ago, a huge loss to the jazz community that has not yet been corrected.) There were many great jazz clubs, like The Village Vanguard, which is still the greatest jazz club in the world, and there was Boomer's, The Village Gate, Stryker's, Mikell's, Seventh Ave South, Sweet Basil, and more.
But at Knickerbocker, people came for the whole hang: the music, the food, the great drinks, the bar, the other like minded late night people. The whole atmosphere was thick with smoke, music, alcohol, and excitement. Late night, night time, grown up, adult, rhythmic, juicy, slightly scary, soulful, familial, sexy, druggy, swinging, swaying, grooving, lush, harsh, burning, pulsing, dragging, rushing, loud, soft, conversational, confrontational, emotional, intellectual, habitual, the whole night was JAZZ.
I like the fact that music is a part of the fabric of the whole at Knickerbocker. There used to be music six nights a week. Now it's only on the weekends. During the week, when the top of the piano is down, it is literally filled with large bottles of alcohol. A literal piano bar. There is no separation of church and state at Knickerbocker; diners, listeners and drinkers all hang together on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:45pm until 2:00am.
The music rises out of the wonderful Steinway piano that has been there for years. I generally play with a trio; the bass is tucked in the corner next to my left hand, and the drums are tucked inside the curve of the piano. On the first set it's like playing to a crowd of loud peacocks. It's the final big dinner hour, between 9:45 and 10:30 or 11 or so. Starting at the 11pm set it becomes a much more drinking and listening crowd, and for the midnight set I often have other musicians dropping by to sit in for the attentive late night jazz fans.
We play 45 minutes on, and 30 minutes off. Besides getting paid, we're given a delicious dinner. I generally just get a bunch of amazing appetizers-creamed spinach, baked potato, Caesar salad, and bread and butter, and a shot of something good, like an 18-year-old single malt Scotch, or maybe a Vodka Martini.
I love playing 3 and 1/2 sets of music a night. It creates a relaxed, long form evening of music. Not trying to blast it all in a one hour set. Allowing the music to come out of its own accord. The music snakes up into the room from the hearts and souls of the musicians on the bandstand. I can try the latest thing I'm working on or thinking about musically, and the musicians and I can experiment with whatever we feel and are interested in expressing at that moment. Lots of foreplay, lots of long searching and playing and discovering new and forgotten musical ideas. As we're not the complete focus, there is not the pressure to 'perform.' We just 'PLAY.' We concentrate on the music, communicating with our instruments between ourselves, leaving ourselves open for the aficionado to dive into our process and feel his or her way through the evening with us.
This is the way I imagine jazz to have been played in New Orleans when it was being invented by original musicians. such as Louis Armstrong. It was part of the music in the whorehouse, in the speakeasy, in the roadhouse, in the tavern, and in the marching band that played for funerals, weddings, and holiday celebrations.
Another fantastic thing about Knickerbocker-there's no big music charge. Just a few bucks at the table for the music, and the rest is the money you spend on drinks and food. And the food is delicious-good old NY steak, chicken, pasta, salads, fish, amazing side orders of mussels, oysters. Simple delicious, good old New York food.
I love to play Carnegie Hall (I've played there 8 times). I love to play at Royal Albert Hall in London (I played there a couple of years ago with my band and the African Children's choir and Bobby McFerrin). I love to play the Vanguard (I played there last April with the Downtown Quartet) and I love playing the Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, concerts and clubs across the US, and Europe and Asia.
But there's no place like home. Home is where you can just be yourself, and say whatever's on your mind. And to me, Knickerbocker is home. https://jazztimes.com/articles/25743-home-is-where-the-gig-is
JAZZIZ.com:
MICHAEL WOLF RETURNS TO THE BIG APPLE
Jazz pianist Michael Wolff follows his recent appearance at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center (which NPR will broadcast on April 1) with a return to his hometown of New York City and a multi-show stand at lower Manhattan's Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, which Wolff calls the 'only venerable restaurant/jazz joint left in NYC.'
Wolff will play multiple sets each night, delivering a mix from his catalogue of CDs as well as some new music and old favorites (likely some Monk and Wes Montgomery). He's also expected to introduce a new approach to playing he's taken in recent months. He explains: 'I discovered a new way of improvising on chords that is actually very simple, but sounds very fresh to me, and, incorporated with my other tools, is exciting to me. I was practicing on one of my older songs, 'Little M,' from my Jumpstart CD - just outlining the chords and arpeggiating them - and I found a really great way to connect them together and stagger them rhythmically. I don't hear pianists do this much, and it helps to break me away from playing scales, which feel overused, at least by me.
'I'm having fun playing with this new improvisational material, which is not harmonically dissonant, but seems unique. I don't think it's anything earthshaking in and of itself, except as it applies to piano. It's more of a saxophone approach to piano, which is bigger arpeggios. I'm also combining that with something I discovered and clarified about my own playing and approach when I gave a short lecture/demonstration on jazz and Tourette's syndrome last fall at a Lincoln Center conference on music and the brain. It was how I use my physical impulsiveness in my playing, putting a certain energy into the musical ideas. It's abstract, but demonstrable.' https://www.jazziz.com/news/2010/02/11/michael-wolf-returns-to-the-big-apple/
In advance of Wolff's appearance at The Kennedy Center late last year, Express (a publication of The Washington Post,) chatted with him. Read the article here: A Rootsy Ramble: Michael Wolff Gets Back to His Southern Roots https://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/10/michael-wolff-kennedy-center-joes-strut.php
Wolff's latest CD 'Joe's Strut' was the 35th most played record of 2009, according to JAZZWEEK. The album has garnered substantial national and regional press coverage since its release, and critics appear to have coalesced around a common theme: This CD is funky! In The New York Times, Nate Chinen noted that Strut 'throws in a few hints of funk,' and that sentiment appears again and again reviews of the album. In fact, All About Jazz-NY said the CD was 'funky as hell.' Other notable coverage includes a recent 'Prelude' feature in JAZZIZ, and multi-page 'Before & After' interview feature JAZZTIMES Magazine, which praised Wolff as 'a musical renaissance man.'
A terrific CD review in ALLMUSIC noted 'the opening track finds Wolff, a master of harmonics with an assured quick-mindedness, full of surprises, tossing around choppy discordant post-bop chords like confetti and alternately unreeling no-nonsense bluesy flurries, the saxes and rhythm section maintaining a solid soulful block as he goes on his merry way.' In Jazztimes' CD review, they comment: 'Wolff's joy in playing piano is unmistakable and infectious.' DOWNBEAT says: 'Joe's Strut delivers, smoothly and seamlessly,' and adds, 'his uptempo solos can swing hard, and he has the temperament to leave space where it belongs on the ballads.' The San Jose Mercury News called Wolff 'A commanding jazz presence.'
Visit www.michaelwolff.com
