In the past two decades, while no one was paying attention, jazz finally reached a sustaining level of both commercial and cultural acceptance. The record companies don’t put out hit singles, but on the whole, the record companies and the clubs make money. Blue Note, Universal-Verve, and Concord-Fantasy balance their budgets among big stars, profitable reissues, and lesser-selling new acts. The clubs in New York are packed nightly, largely with tourists who have heard jazz in their hometowns and want to experience the music at its epicenter.

This achievement is largely due to men like Norman Granz and George Wein, who were the first producers to take the music into concert halls on a regular basis. Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington first took the 15-piece big band onto the concert stage. Granz showcased dynamic improvisation in a formal setting. But it is Mr. Wein who first presented jazz in a festival format, perceiving that its chief asset was its diversity (when was the last time you heard of a “heavy metal festival”?).

If any one single event brought jazz to where it is today, economically and otherwise, it was the original Newport Jazz Festival. Mr. Wein changed the way the cultural community thought about jazz, and for 50 years the festival formerly known as Newport (now known as JVC) has been the central event in jazz. Mr. Wein’s success has led to thousands of festivals, mounted by him and other producers the world over. But this is truly the World Series of jazz.

The tradition of alternative festivals to Newport is almost as old as Mr. Wein’s organization. In 1960, the very year that rioting, drunken yahoos closed Newport down, the bassist and bandleader and frequent jazz demagogue Charles Mingus mounted his own rival event in Newport. The attempts to mount a competing festival have escalated in the JVC era.

These alternative festivals have generally focused on cutting-edge and postmodern varieties of jazz that are traditionally underrepresented at JVC. For years, Michael Dorf, impresario of the Knitting Factory, has worked both in conjunction and in competition with JVC – this year that club is presenting New York Now, which looks like a marathon evening of downtown experimental-style bands. But the most successful, long-term alternate event is the Vision Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

Vision presents virtually every major player in the avant-garde sphere. It also puts together creative combinations of musicians who do not work together regularly. For the last nine years, Vision has preceded JVC by several weeks. This year, however, festival producer Patricia Parker (dancer and wife of the marvelous bassist-composer William Parker) is launching Vision on the exact same night.

In a way it’s a show of strength, to trust that Vision won’t be overlooked in the light of the considerably better funded event with major names on major labels in major halls. More likely, it means listeners who enjoy the more traditional variety of the music won’t even be tempted to check out the untraditional stuff downtown.

Yet JVC too remains innovative in its own way. Of all the festivals I have attended all over the world, there is truly nothing like it. For all the stars who make it to the Montreal Jazz Festival, there is nothing like a Tribute to Doc Cheatham or anyone else. Most festivals book big-name bands, and they play essentially the same music they would play at the Blue Note or other clubs along the circuit. No one else mounts thematic evenings, built around tributes to iconic figures in jazz history (such as Doc Cheatham), around the music of composers, or around specific themes.

It may be most satisfying to think of the Vision fest as a complementary event, rather than a competing one. With Vision factored in, the picture of jazz in New York is complete. For instance, on Friday night it happens that both JVC and Vision are presenting the combination of a quartet and a big band. JVC’s double bill is Wayne Shorter’s quartet and Dave Holland’s big band at Carnegie; Vision’s is the all-star quartet Other Dimensions in Music plus the Sound Vision Orchestra. The key difference between the two concerts is that at Vision, the two ensembles will be playing simultaneously and interacting with each other. With options like that, it’s hard to imagine how the musical scene could possibly get any richer.

***

If music is defined by its fans, then jazz will suffer from the loss of two of its most dedicated advocates, Walter Schaap and Joe Klee. Both were veteran fans and scholars who had been part of the scene since the 1930s, and memorial services were held for both last week at the jazz ministry of St. Peter’s. Wally Schaap was an important scholar who translated into English many of the important early writings on jazz, including those of Charles Delaunay and Hugues Panassie. He also co-founded the Sidney Bechet Society and was the father and mentor of jazz’s most famous broadcaster, Phil Schaap. Klee was one of the first reviewers to write about Lennie Tristano, but he will be remembered as a tireless flag-waver for the cause of traditional and New Orleans jazz. As personalities, they were as different as can be imagined: Joe was as feisty and cantankerous as Wally was upbeat and agreeable. But they were alike in their total devotion to jazz. It’s not going to seem like festival season this year without them.

http://www.festivalproductions.net/jvcjazz.htm (212-721-6500).
http://www.visionfestival.org (212-696-6681).

An Uptown-Downtown Showdown – A Week of Jazz in the City

TUESDAY, JUNE 14

JVC – Celebrating the Dapper Doctor of the trumpet, who was still blowing amazing jazz well into his 92nd year, “100 Years and a Day: Doc Cheatham Centennial Jazz Party” is the kind of opening night jam session George Wein has been mounting at the Kaye Playhouse for the last 10 years or so. The trumpets alone are worth the price of admission: Nicholas Payton, Clark Terry, Warren Vache, Randy Sandke, and Jimmy Owens. The rest of the lineup (including Jimmy Heath, Benny Powell, George Wein, and Frank Wess) isn’t too shabby, either.

VISION – After Joseph Jarman’s traditional “Opening Invocation,” there are three exceptionally strong acts taking center stage, a big band and two all-star quartets. The Jorge Sylvester and Nora McCarthy Conceptual Motion Orchestra includes Tim Armacost, Curtis Fowlkes, Jeremy Pelt, and 16 other horn and rhythm players. At 8 p.m., bass giant Henry Grimes leads alto saxophonist Marshall Allen (best known as one of Sun Ra’s chief acolytes and rarely heard in a small-band setting) with Andrew Lamb (tenor) and Hamid Drake (drums). At 11 p.m. is a band with enough star power to play JVC or any of the major clubs, the new quartet WARM with Reggie Workman (bass), Pheeroan akLaff (drums), and two multi-reed performers, Sam Rivers and Roscoe Mitchell.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

JVC – In “Piano Masters Salute Piano Legends: Celebrating Ellington, Evans, Hancock & Monk,” four all-time master player-composers will be celebrated by four formidable living masters: Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Uri Caine, and Randy Weston, plus Ray Drummond (bass) and Al Foster (drums). It’s rare to see Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock placed in the same upper stratospheric category as Ellington and Monk; rare but welcome. There’s also a free concert of student combos at the South Street Seaport, sponsored by Downbeat magazine and including a band from that publication’s hometown, Chicago.

VISION – Strong players in trios dominate the second night: Charles Gayle (alto) with Hilliard Greene (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums); Oliver Lake (reeds) of the Word Sax Quartet with Michael Gregory (guitar) and Pheeroan akLaff (drums); and veteran trumpeter Roy Campbell’s Pyramid Trio with William Parker (bass) and Hamid Drake (drums). Two intriguing quartets follow, spotlighting the combinations of Mat Maneri (viola) and Dave Burrell (piano), then Wayne Horvitz (piano) and Briggan Krauss (alto).

THURSDAY, JUNE 16

JVC – The celebrated pianist-composer Chick Corea plays many kinds of music, from bop to pop, and the quintet he’ll be performing with as part of “An Evening With Chick Corea & Touchstone” – Tom Brechtlein, Carles Benavent, Jorge Pardo, and Rubem Dantas – has a Latin flair. Uptown, another fine modern pianist, Joanne Brackeen, leads a more straightahead group co-starring the excellent tenor Ravi Coltrane and guitarist Rodney Green.

VISION – For me the best bet this evening is one of the most venerated figures of the Chicago avant-garde, Fred Anderson, saxophonist, bandleader, AACM co-founder, educator-mentor, and all-around musical visionary. Now 76, Mr. Anderson rarely appears outside Illinois, and this marks a rare chance to hear him in several contexts – playing against some comparable saxophones, including fellow Chicagoan Joseph Jarman and the New Orleans avant-gardist Kidd Jordan. Mr. Jarman also leads his own ensemble, with three saxophones and three rhythm players, including drummer Rob Garcia from Woody Allen’s Dixieland band.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

JVC – Apart from the obvious fact that Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland have a shared history with Miles Davis, the combination of Mr. Shorter’s introverted intimacy and the blasting power of Mr. Holland’s 15-piece band seems odd. Even on the occasions when Mr. Shorter is disappointing, however, you never want to risk missing him. Also: The Dominican pianist Michel Camilo works in solo, duo, and trio settings with a special guest, the Puerto Rican tenor star David Sanchez. Incessant crowd-pleasers James Carter and the Bad Plus celebrate Brooklyn with a free concert al fresco in Prospect Park.

VISION – There’s some fascinating stuff happening tonight – which annoys me, because nothing’s going to distract me from Wayne Shorter. Most interesting is the simultaneous combination of the quartet Other Dimensions in Music (with Roy Campbell and William Parker) and the large-format Sound Vision Orchestra with Rob Brown (alto), Billy Bang (violin), and a dozen or so others. The other major act to catch is one of the most respected figures of the postmodern music world, trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon, in a typically intriguing combination, playing flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet (a la “Penny Lane”), plus Warren Smith (vibes), Tony Widoff (keyboards), and Steve Horenstein (baritone sax & bass flute). Not to mention Mr. and Mrs. Oluyemi and Ijeoma Thomas, the only C-melody-saxophone-and poetry-combo I know of.

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

JVC – There’s no major concert that night, but one of the major stars of contemporary jazz, David Murray (now living in Europe and not playing in the States as often as I would like), is teaming up with Pan-African group the Gwo-Ka Masters for the second of three nights at the Jazz Standard.

VISION – Saturday at Vision is especially ambitious, starting with an afternoon of younger musicians presented under the banner of “Emerging Artists” – this promises to be especially playful, starting with solo pianist Tyshawn Sorey, who was impressive with Dave Douglas earlier this year. His “traditional” acoustic quartet includes two brass and two rhythm players, led by bassist Todd Nicholson, and two zany combinations of electronics and experimentation – including a musician named Ricardo Arias, who makes noises with balloons. When the sun goes down, watch the jazz world’s two leading violinists, Billy Bang (with his jazz-Vietnamese fusion music) and Leroy Jenkins.

SUNDAY, JUNE 19

JVC – Since the announced Rosemary Clooney show was postponed, “All for Paul: Les Paul 90th Birthday Salute” looks like the most star-studded event of the 2005 fest. The venerated guitarist altered American music on several levels. His backing band from the Iridium (John Colianni, Lou Pallo, and Nicki Parrott) will be on hand, but the big sell will be a lineup of guitarists from all fields: Jose Feliciano, Peter Frampton, Steve Lukather, Pat Martino, and Bucky Pizzarelli. The big-selling jazz-influenced vocalist Madeleine Peyroux will also warble. Up at the Schomberg in Harlem, one of the fathers of soul-jazz, Lou Donaldson, will lead his fine quartet in a swinging Father’s Day salute.

VISION – Downtown the Vision Festival will wind up its 10th year with a gaggle of unpredictable combinations: William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra is easily one of the best contemporary large-format ensembles, and also incorporates a small band named Juice that features the fleet-fingered tuba player Dave Hofstra. Mr. Parker’s saxophone players alone are enough of a draw for me: Rob Brown, Sabir Mateen, Daryl Foster, Dave Sewelson, and Charles Waters. At 10 p.m. Mr. Brown leads his own ensemble with cello and percussion plus “art installation, video sounds, and Nancy Zendora Dance Company” – what no balloons?