Dear Readers,

Ah fall…the beauty before the frost, that last second wind to energize and entice, before we hunker down for winter. Jazz, like life, has to adapt and change with the seasons in order to survive.

It still has a fighting chance as the kids are starting to dig it more, and the educational scene—always struggling—is still, fortunately, blanketing the universe with the gifted who choose to teach as well as perform…instilling, inspiring and spreading the magic that is music.

Being a true addicted fan of “Americana,” I can appreciate the talents of the new Guinness record-holder of the most TV hours, the one and only Regis Philbin. Now age 56, I was raised on TV in the ‘50s, so Regis takes me back. So…I get a kick out of starting my day each morning by tuning in to the “Regis and Kelly” variety/talk show to get my a.m. yuks. Kelly Rippa is the best female to grace the screen since Lucille Ball for all the same and right reasons.

Anyway, I started today by catching the tail-end of a story about Regis and Tony Danza and someone else going to a club and realizing that there’s a live jazz group playing. “No wonder a lot of folks think they really have to understand jazz to like it. Might as well be hearing aliens playing some strange-sounding stuff responding to a language only the hip, well-informed can communicate with.”

It was funny, and maybe a little bit true. The best part of the whole deal was that Philbin named the group who caught their attention, my dear and revered friend…the wonderful George Cables and his George Cables Project. It was a well-deserved plug for a prime-time, mostly non-jazz listening audience. George has been gigging with sax man Gary Bartz of late, so I’m sure they blew away these TV stars that stopped in for dinner and got swept up in the music. Great!

The jazz scene here has been a little light of late, except for the constant, almost-daily arrival of CDs from jazzy to attempted jazzy artists from just about everywhere.

Taking advantage of the slight break in the action, Grace and I headed west on the old Amtrak Zephyr. Grace had never seen the western portion of the U.S., and had never been to San Francisco at all. I hung and lived in the Bay area from about ‘85 to ’89, when the earthquake shook me out of my beloved San Francisco Giants World Series seats in the old Candlestick Park to the wintry plains once again.

Two visits since then still left an eight-year gap since my last excursion, as well as the interesting, mostly dreadful train ride. Marrying Grace got me back into the air again, but we toughed it out on the train this time. Once we got to SF, Grace—for the first time—and me after all these years, fell in love with the lady that is San Francisco one more time. The city never looked more beautiful and inviting—with nippy, yet invigorating ocean air to cleanse your pores. Even the more menacing neighborhoods I haunted in my hippie and band eras seemed refreshed and less full of the former sad assembly of lost souls that would end up in this free-wheeling environment, unlike anywhere else in the U.S. Almost another planet unto itself, it always seemed to me.

I did most of my jazz ambassadorship on the train, telling everyone about the Berman Music Foundation, handing out brochures and a few selected CDs, including the Russ Long Trio and Norman Hedman and Tropique, and mostly talking music and baseball, and everyone’s career with the wide majority of non-flyers who would have to possess the patience of saints to put up with all the delays, plumbing problems, and a few crabby train employees that can make or break you trip. Thank God for the ones that did make a difference and tried to keep it all together for everyone concerned. Turns out our trip registered more than 25 complaints to Amtrak for this round-trip adventure.

Anyway, back in SF we were treated royally by one of my closest pals, and BMF consultant, Wade Wright. Besides still running Jack’s Record Cellar, he now helps manage his brother David’s new eatery on Union and Stockton in North Beach…the Café Divine. Fabulous food, service and vibe that are totally San Francisco at its finest. Wade also took Grace and me on an incredible tour of the Muir Woods and the wondrous wineries of Napa and Sonoma counties.

We also took time to revisit some of my old hang-outs and meet some other buddies like rock legend Roy Loney and record expert and impresario Jeff Richardson. We saw the Giants with Barry Bonds (the new SBC Park is fanatically fantastic) with my fond friend and wine and food maven Carol Seibert and her mate, and one of my old pals from Nebraska, Terry Braye, now teaching music to teenagers.

We visited one of the world’s greatest healers and chiropractors, Dr. Barbara Berkeley, at her new office on Valencia. We also spent a lovely day in the Castro district with another of my “record-people” buddies of many years, Michael Mascioli of All Music Services, who along with Wade, Jeff and Roy have turned me on to the cutting edge of great music of all kinds for years.

Speaking of music…for maybe the first time ever, I didn’t drag Grace to a million record stores, nor did we catch any live music. We just walked, ate and drank the best, and enjoyed these great friends of mine in their glorious city. At least at the moment, NYC may have slipped to #2, as I’m still soaking in the Pacific charm while writing to you all. Of course, when it comes to jazz…New York rules!

Getting back to jazz, a new potential hot spot for our music, the Café de Mai at the corner of 25^th and O streets in Lincoln, had its debut a few weeks ago to celebrate three years serving the Asian community with fine dining, a huge market, video store, real estate, and rentable party space in a splendid mall once housed by a former grocery chain. Grace and I have gotten friendly with the owners, Tim and Kim, after going back to their delicious Vietnamese cuisine time and time again.

Thinking about how well sushi goes with jazz at the famed Yoshi’s in Oakland, Calif., we decided to give it a shot for their anniversary shindig. With the talented saxophonist Rod Scheps doing gigs in K.C. and Des Moines the same week, this seemed like the time. So, with the Rod Scheps Core-tet intact, the gig was set.

As of late, my rock band The Cronin Brothers has been on an upswing in playing more clubs and parties. We got a great corporate birthday bash on the same night of the Scheps happening, so you’ll have to read Tom’s review to get the rest of the facts. Tim and Kim said they just about broke even for their first experience, and might like to do seasonal gigs of the same vain. We may put on a New Year’s Eve event there, so watch the Update section of the website for any late-breaking news concerning this.

We also are doing another jazz show at P.O. Pears Nov. 10 with Minneapolis trumpet sensation Kelly Rossum and his swell band. Read all about it and Tom’s interview with Kelly in this issue.

That’s about all the news that fits from me for the moment. Groove on the fall, and have a real decent Christmas holiday from me, Grace and all the staff of the BMF. We’ll be bringing in the New Year with another jam-packed Jazz newsletter for your reading enjoyment. God bless you all, everyone.

Butch Berman  

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Hi Jazz Fans…

Happy summertime and the living is easy, and sometimes not so easy, as you’ll soon read about. My newest catch phrase, “a tough biz…this jazz is,” seems to have become a major-league reality, at least here in the Midwest.

The Topeka Jazz Festival came and went as a complete artistic success, but lost miserably at the box office. I know the damage done by the former head honcho’s inability to gracefully transfer his allegiance and constituents to help continue funding through sponsorship was big time. Yet, there are still a lot of other jazz fans who, maybe due to the former tradition of holding this event on the Memorial Day weekend, had too many other options available to make jazz its main priority.

We had sufficient coverage on all media months in advance, and our Taste of Topeka Jazz Yard Party picnic was well attended, probably because admission was free. We had to move inside due to storms brewing, but the energy flowing between the magnificent musicians and their fans was spellbinding. Yet, when it came to paying for the actual festival the following two days…Zippo. I think we had as many Nebraskans there as folks from K.C., Lawrence and Manhattan, Kan., combined during some sets. 

On the other hand, I want to thank all the wonderful people that did come and supported jazz and hung around to catch some of the best music they’ve heard in years. I, my staff, and the entire crew from TPAC (especially Assistant Director Mark Radziejeski) can all share in our hearts that we put on one of the best Topeka Jazz Festivals in its eight-year history. If it is the last one, we went out on top swinging.

One hundred percent of all the cats that played it this year said they really enjoyed themselves and felt more creative and groovin’ under our more relaxed manner of presentation than ever before. That made me feel like a winner, NO MATTER WHAT.  If you lead with your heart, you get back pure soul music, whether it’s jazz, blues or rock ‘n’ roll. To all my monster player buddies who blew their asses off on every song, every set, every day, a mutherfuckin’ thank you, and I love you all for doin’ your thang so well.

Tom will fill you in with his blow-by-blow account of all the hot bops. Yeah, we did stretch a bit, and tried some different stuff: Gypsy jazz, Afro-Cuban Latin world beat, a little more bebop, lots of new faces and still a lot of the same pros that preserved the original jazz party scene the TJF was first noted for. All in all, I applaud you. BRAVO!

One week after the festival was over I received the shocking news that the fabulous staff that had made everything possible for our BMF to flourish and create the jazz in Kansas that I could never sustain here in my hometown had been let go by their Ames, Iowa-based bosses, for undisclosed reasons—but mostly coming from the lack of enthusiasm toward entertainment in downtown Topeka sufficient to fill enough seats to maintain its budget and cost of operations.

This sucks and is so sad for them and their families, as well, and for the very uncertain future of the TJF and the Berman Jazz Series. However, after 10 years in this crazy jazz biz, I’ve become even more determined to be an advocate of this wild music I’m so passionate about. Have jazz will travel, I guess, as we’re already in the process of contacting other foundations dealing with the same kinda stuff to collaborate in keeping jazz alive, or working with other educational institutes, hoping to bring or augment whatever jazz programs they now may or may not have.

Check out my other story in this issue reporting on the ever-so-successful master class we held in Topeka prior to the festival. They may take away our venues, but they can’t kill the curiosity, drive and determination of our youth towards jazz that is growing all over the country despite all the bullshit, egos, apathy and bad politics that seems to try to screw up everything in our world today. We shall overcome…one day…someday.

Even though we weren’t involved in booking for Lincoln’s Jazz in June this year, we were instrumental in obtaining, through the Mid-America Arts Alliance roster of fine talent, the master himself—saxophonist, composer and educator Ahmad Alaadeen and his Group 21 from Kansas City, Mo., for this year’s concert series. I met him and his manager, Fanny Dunfee, eight years ago at a Mid-America convention in K.C. and have loved them, and his brilliant music, ever since. It was indeed a pleasure and honor to have had them headline the last show of this year and just tear the place up. Tom’s reviews of that gig and Alaadeen’s sensational new ASR Records release, “New Africa Suite,” also appear in this issue.

Some other news before I scram. Got a nice letter from former Lincolnite Carter Van Pelt, whose job working at the Lincoln Center in N.Y.C. has become fulltime. A super journalist, his recent interview with pianist Marcus Roberts graced the cover of the center’s publication. Carter has written some great pieces in the past on Bob Marley, Fela Kuti and Monty Alexander, to name a few, as well as superb concert presentations such as the one we did together at Lincoln’s Royal Grove, bringing in Brooklyn’s great Antibalas. Nice goin’, my friend.

I’m hoping to bring in Minneapolis trumpet player Kelly Rossum and his band, and Bob Bowman’s new K.C. group, perhaps to P.O. Pears sometime this fall, as well as debuting my new buddy, vocalist extraordinaire Giacomo Gates, hopefully with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra in 2006. My dear pal sax player Rob Scheps is also planning to be in the area around October. We will keep you posted on all the haps as they appear.

Things on our jazz front may be a little shaky as of late, but if I survived the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, then these minor setbacks are only little aftershocks to the really big picture of protecting, preserving and presenting this great American music to you for years to come.  Have a very happy and safe summer.

Yours in jazz, 

Butch Berman

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March 2005

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