New York is experiencing a veritable renaissance of new jazz club openings — praise be! Martin Porter, a veteran of Jazz Standard, is behind the latest of these new ventures, The Pocket, and it has become an instant hub for some of the city’s finest musicians. I’m delighted to be bringing my Secret Society co-conspirators to help inaugurate this space. We hope you’ll join us in ringing in the new room on Thursday, September 24 — one night only, as they say.
The praise has been pouring in for With Every Breath I Take, my latest release with Cécile McLorin Salvant and the Metropole Orkest: “hauntingly beautiful,” “brilliant synthesis of influences,” “one of the great vocalist/orchestra albums of all time.”
Arranging this collection of ballads for Cécile was a true labor of love — these are desert island songs, songs that are deeply meaningful to both of us. They are masterfully interpreted by Cécile, her trio of Sullivan Fortner, David Wong, and Kush Abadey, with Jules Buckley directing the orchestra, all gorgeously captured by recording legend Todd Whitelock.
Looking ahead, I’m very excited about my upcoming season as Composer-in-Residence of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, which will feature three extraordinary guests: concert pianist Kirill Gerstein, in a program of Gershwin, Ellington, and Fletcher Henderson juxtaposed with contemporary works; guitarist Bill Frisell, performing a curated selection of his extraordinary compositions reimagined for big band; and a new project with Cécile McLorin Salvant focused on her original songs.
I’ll also be returning to Hamburg’s breathtaking Elbphilharmonie for the world premiere of a new orchestral composition, paired with some Secret Society classics reimagined for the combined forces of the NDR Elpbhilharmonie Orhcestra and the NDR Bigband. I’m delighted to be sharing the bill with my longtime friend and colleague Missy Mazzoli, who will be premiering her piano concerto for Leif Ove Andsnes, under the direction of Alan Gilbert.
And in case you missed it, the concerts from my previous two seasons with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band are now all streaming on YouTube:
Brad Mehldau
Walter Smith III
Warren Wolf
Aaron Diehl
This month’s cocktail is a classic from the 1920s, the Champs-Élysées. It’s easy to forget, but the famous Parisian avenue is actually named after the final resting place for the heroic mortals of Greek myth (which, as you may have noticed, is currently having a bit of a Moment).
The cocktail was purportedly invented at the legendary Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, which I finally had the opportunity to visit last fall. Naturally, I ordered the Champs-Élysées.
Champs-Élysées
2 oz cognac
0.5 oz green Chartreuse
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake all with ice and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a lemon peel.
À votre santé!
Be seeing you,
— DJA