For most musicians and singers alike, mining those great American standards can only get you so far before it begins to sound tired and rote. For thirty years running, the greatest living jazz trio is still mining that gold vein while keeping it fresh and vital. That’s a big part of the reason why Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette make up that greatest living jazz trio. Miles Davis’ blue, post bop number “Solar” is a classic of the jazz canon, and it has been covered by Jarrett’s group innumerable times, and even recorded and released on a couple of occasions already. The latest one is forthcoming on their newest live album, Somewhere, culled from a 2009 concert in Luzern, Switzerland. Continue reading at SER.com.

The “Somewhere” in which the ‘Standards’ trio find themselves is Lucerne, Switzerland with a performance both exploratory and in-the-tradition. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung headlined its review of the show “kontrollierte Ekstase” – controlled ecstasy – an apt metaphor for a set that begins in improvisational “Deep Space” modulates into Miles Davis’ “Solar”, soars through the standards “Stars Fell On Alabama” and “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” and climaxes with an extended romp through West Side Story, as Bernstein’s “Somewhere” and “Tonight” are bridged by the freely associative Jarrett original “Everywhere”. Personnel: Keith Jarrett: piano; Gary Peacock: double bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

iDrum Magazine is the FREE online digital magazine that has revolutionised web-based drum media. Published by Licklibrary to over 250,000 qualified prospects, it has grown to become an international phenomenon. For it’s news 18th digital edition, iDrum interviewed Jack Dejohnette to talk about his lifetime behind the set of drums. Read for free here. 

Saturday evening at Jazz At The John Hopkins Club Jack DeJohnette will be performing with saxophonist Gary Thomas. Online tickets may be a challenge so please call 410-235-3435. More information here.

Jack DeJohnette continues touring with Keith Jarret and Gary Peacock. This time for a short tour in Asia with 6 shows confirmed in Japan and Seoul. The first stop will be at the Orchard Hall in Tokyo the 6th and the 9th. On the 12th the band will travel to Osaka to play at the Osaka Festival Hall to come back on the 15th to the Orchard Hall in Tokyo. The last stop is at the Sejong Center in Seoul on the 19th.More info here. 

Member of the most iconic contemporary jazz trio with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette is also, as demonstrated for years in Palau de la Música Barcelona (Spain) in a tribute to Tony Williams, a brilliant composer and bandleader. On 15 November, Jack DeJohnette Group with Don Byron will attend to the 45 VOLL-DAMM International Jazz Festival of Barcelona (Spain). More information here. 

Jack DeJohnette turned 70 in August, and was named top drummer in the 2012 DownBeat Critics Poll. ECM has released his four albums leading his Special Edition band as a box set, sans reproductions of the color covers, but including a 13 page essay by Bradley Bambargar, complete credits, and many photos of the leader and his bandmates.
The albums, originally recorded between 1979 and 1984, are Special Edition, Tin Can Alley, Inflation Blues, and Album Album. While the lineup undergoes some changes, the overall setup was just bass and horns, with the leader sometimes overdubbing keyboards. Continue reading on Louisville Reviews.

This week on Notes From The Field at Jet City Stream, Michael Shrieve sits down and has a long talk with the great drummer Jack DeJohnette, winner of the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters Award, about his early days in Chicago, about making the decision to play drums instead of piano, about the healing power of drums and much more. Click here to listen the interview. 

“The man sounds like a tub of water.”  That’s probably the most memorable comment I’ve heard in response to a Jack DeJohnette drum solo, conveyed mid-flight into the second set of a performance at L.A.’s Catalina Bar & Grill in 1995.  As a freshman in college and student of music, I had only just begun to inquire about DeJohnette’s work as a leader, having barely probed beyond his vast arena of better known associations with Charles Lloyd, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and Keith Jarrett. Read full article here.