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New CD "White Noise" released on Laika Records!
CD release live stream on September 19 (5 pm EDT) featuring Scott Robinson and Dave Stryker
Recap: Last gig before lockdown @Kitano with Aaron Goldberg, Lenny White and Peter Weniger
Other online events and videos
Non-music related activities during Covid 19 summer
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"It’s been 6 months since I published my last newsletter at the beginning of March. Obviously, there have been no concerts, recordings, or exotic travels to report of since the lockdown brought the international music scene to a complete halt.
Over this entire period, I recall one weekend when I almost felt like a working musician: on Friday, July 17, I was part of a "Smalls Live Stream" event with Scott Robinson’s quartet (playing for an in-club audience of one – the sponsor of our set, jazz supporter and agent Joel Chriss), and a recording session for one of John DiMartino's projects on Sunday, July 19.
The video of our concert at Smalls is still up: https://www.facebook.com/smallslive/videos/1590334551146450 |
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I’ve tried to take advantage of my time by composing, reorganizing my office, setting myself up for home recording projects, and zoom sessions. Since none of these activities resulted in any direct income I was thrilled when the German bassist and author Jonas Lohse asked me to help him translate and edit his excellent book "The Double Bass" for its first English edition. It's been an incredibly enjoyable and educational experience, and I’m sure that I will share more about this exciting project, soon.
Like countless other musicians I've lost a ton of work over these last few months that I was very much looking forward to: several festival appearances with Matt Wilson's "Honey and Salt”, a week at Birdland Theater in celebration of Dena DeRose's new album "Ode to the Road", and many other concerts with some of my favorite musicians and dearest friends, such as Duduka DaFonseca and Helio Alvez, John DiMartino and Eric Alexander, Ann Hampton Callaway and Ted Rosenthal, Carol Morgan and Joel Frahm…not being able to share music, friendship and life with these special members of our jazz community has been extremely challenging, but I sure hope that we’ll be together again, soon!
But there is also good news…
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New CD "White Noise" released on Laika Records!
On August 28, my new CD "White Noise" was released on the German Laika Records label and is now available on iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify, and other digital platforms.
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The album features two European Jazz icons of the highest order: Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine and the now 90-year old Dutch flugelhornist Ack van Rooyen. I’ve known and loved both them and their sounds for more than 30 years and had been dreaming about recording some of my music with them for a very long time.
For more info and to order please go to http://martinwind.com/whitenoise/
Here is a short promo video courtesy of my dear friend Olff Appold: |
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The first reviews have come in, with Downbeat Magazine and All About Jazz to follow, soon.
Both of these giants of modern music have developed incredibly personal sounds and truly "speak" through their instruments; their melodic and deeply emotional style has touched and influenced me greatly. I hope that some of you will feel compelled to learn more about them and give this album a listen or two.
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CD release live stream on September 19 (5 pm EDT) featuring Scott Robinson and Dave Stryker
In celebration of the release I will be playing some of the album’s material in my backyard (!!!) in Teaneck, NJ together with my friends Scott Robinson on tenor saxophone and trumpet, and Dave Stryker on guitar.
We will have a live audience of about 30 invited guests with us (while observing social distancing rules, of course!), and the concert will be streaming live at www.facebook.com!MartinWindBass
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We very much hope that you will be joining us for this event! As a teaser... here is about a minute and a half of the three of us playing the Blues at the WBGO dinner in honor of Michael Bourne at last year’s Jazz on the Mountain Festival:
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Recap: Last gig before lockdown @Kitano with Aaron Goldberg, Lenny White and Peter Weniger
My last "real" concert happened on Saturday, March 7, the second of a two-night engagement at the Jazz@Kitano Club in NYC with an incredible band: pianist extraordinaire Aaron Goldberg, drum legend Lenny White and my friend from Cologne days, tenor saxophonist Peter Weniger!
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Martin Wind, Peter Weniger, Lenny White, Aaron Goldberg
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Boy, it feels like this gig happened years ago…anyway, here is a video of that concert’s opener:
Johnny Mandel’s “El Cahon”: https://youtu.be/SILTbDj2zhs |
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Johnny Mandel’s "El Cahon"
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Other online events and videos
As a result of the lockdown, most human interaction moved online; until the middle of May, I was still teaching my private lessons and ensemble meetings at NYU and Hofstra University mostly via Zoom.
Here is the final project that I produced together with the members of the Hostra Bass Ensemble: J.S. Bach’s "Air" from his Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068:
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Bach: Air in G Major / The Hofstra University Bass Ensemble
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Other Zoom events were a bicoastal happy hour gathering of my quartet with Scott, Bill Cunliffe, and Joe LaBarbera.
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And this shows the participants of one of many webinars organized by Steve Bailey, chair of the bass department at Berklee College of Music:
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Look at this line-up!
Some of my friends started regular concerts and/or shows on Facebook such as Fred Hersch, Ted Rosenthal, and Jay Leonhart. Here is a video of guitarist Bruce Forman playing along with my pre-recorded track of Charlie Parker’s tune "Yardbird Suite":
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If the epidemic has proven one thing, though, it’s this: NOTHING will ever replace the experience of being on a stage in the same physical space with other musicians, reacting to each other, playing in the moment for real people…
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Non-music related activities during Covid 19 summer
Since all of my concerts and trips were canceled, I’ve been able to stay home, spend many wonderful hours with my family, and sleep in my own bed! Instead of waiting in line at airport security checkpoints I’ve been spending many hours on the tennis court, started subscribing to “Imperfect foods” (thanks Sharon!), and tried out several new recipes, such as mussels in white wine, crab cakes, and tuna steak over a bed of spinach, cilantro and avocado (thanks again, Sharon!).
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A couple of times we got together with our Teaneck neighbors, Scott and Sharon Robinson for socially distanced BBQs:
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Instead of a full-fleshed vacation (we had to cancel a trip to Costa Rica in March after already having checked in online!) we took several two-day trips.
At the end of August, we did a couple of great ones back to back. First Maria and I went to the world-famous Longwood Gardens outside of Philadelphia, PA. It’s founder, industrialist Pierre Samuel du Pont at one point ran both his family’s chemical company, as well as General Motors, yet was all about the preservation of exotic trees and plants! He was also fascinated by water, resulting in the garden’s many spectacular fountains and water displays.
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A few days later we spent a gorgeous day with Matt Wilson, his girlfriend Kim Taylor and their five children in the Catskills. One of the highlights was our visit of the Ashokan Reservoir, which provides 40% of NYC’s daily water demands!
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It was a summer that also saw the passing of our beloved lab mix "Maya" and tropical storm "Isaias" knocking us off the grid for almost a week – all of this in the middle of worries over the pandemic, protests against police brutality and systemic racism…here is to better days ahead!
P.S.: Did I mention the release of my new album “White Noise”?
http://martinwind.com/whitenoise/
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