JAZZ PIANIST RETURNS FOR MONK CENTENNIAL
Mboya Nicholson to play at Naked Cybercafe and Espresso Bar Friday
The late, great jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-82) would have been 100 years old this year, but in some ways, he’s still ahead of his time.
He’s most famous for the ballad Round Midnight, but it is one of his tamer tunes. Few other figures in jazz history were able to invent their own unique harmonic language the way Monk did, a sound so radical in his day that some uninformed listeners hearing his recordings all these years later still cast doubt on the man’s ability to play the piano.
Eccentric genius that he was, Monk played Chopin and other classical composers with finesse when he chose to, but decades later, his music still packs a lesson, even for experts. Expert players like Mboya Nicholson, the Edmonton-born pianist who’s back in town now after nearly 20 years away. He was part of last month’s jazz festival, and this Friday he’s back on stage, marking the Monk centennial at Naked Cybercafe and Espresso Bar downtown.
Chances are you might find Nicholson out there other evenings, too, relaxing at the new grand piano the cafe recently acquired, since he has a hard time staying away from a good keyboard. He was happy to talk about Monk, one of his jazz heroes.
“First, you have to admire the courage Monk had to be himself, artistically,” Nicholson said recently. “And that’s part of the lesson he taught me, that the most modern sound you can make is simply to be yourself, to play the combination of all of your own influences as you feel them.”
Thanks to his parents’ eclectic tastes, Nicholson grew up hearing everything from Richard Wagner to Stevie Wonder to Jelly Roll Morton on the family’s stereo, and seeing Hank Jones in the touring show Ain’t Misbehavin’ was a revelation. As a kid, he couldn’t understand why nobody else on the playground had heard of his musical heroes — Morton for example — and he became fascinated with early piano styles like stride and ragtime.
In his mid-teens, he was able to see Wynton Marsalis, and then almost a decade later, he met up with Marsalis again when the trumpeter came here leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Nicholson was hired to play solo piano for the band’s reception at the Winspear Centre and Marsalis was impressed with his grasp of piano styles.
Nicholson was about to graduate with his two-year diploma from then-MacEwan College and wondered where he should further his education. Marsalis pointed him to New Orleans, and the young pianist wound up spending seven years there, getting his bachelor and masters degrees, including instruction from the likes of Ellis Marsalis (patriarch of that musical family) at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Since then, he’s been in Toronto, arranging for string orchestra, and teaching college-level students. Now he’s back in Edmonton for a while to catch up with his family.
Nicholson has two all-original solo piano recordings out, most recently a five-track EP called Movement that he says is an informal reflection of his various musical mentors. You can hear an intriguing mix of styles in his work, from early piano to more modern slants, all in the same piece. He’s interested in working with a lyricist to see if his tunes can be adapted to become songs.
Back to Monk. Nicholson has two full sets planned for Friday, featuring famous and lesserknown Monk compositions and a few standards that Monk was fond of playing.
“I had been listening to Monk for years when I found out certain tunes he did, like Sweet and Lovely or Just a Gigolo, were written by someone else, just because he was so good at making them sound like his own. It’s about the way he handled harmonics and the sense of space in the music.”
If you want to know more about the quirky genius and tragic personal life of Monk, Robin Kelley’s biography The Life and Times of an American Original is highly recommended, but if you want to hear his music live, check out Nicholson, 7 p.m. Friday at Naked Cybercafe & Espresso Bar (10303 108 St.). Tickets are $15 at the door.
FOLK CLUBS’ NEXT SEASON ON TAP
The city’s folk clubs already have their next season of shows booked and on sale and both could make you rethink the very definition of folk.
New Moon Folk Club hits season three with 11 concerts on tap between September and next April, offering an impressive mix of familiar names and new artists. Amy Helm (Levon Helm’s daughter, also from Ollabelle) kicks things off Sept. 22 at the club’s regular venue, St. Basil’s Cultural Centre (see newmoonfolkclub.com).
Jack Garton’s Demon Squadron, Union Duke, The Dead South, Lion Bear Fox and Big Little Lions are a few of the newer names, along with Saskatchewan’s Belle Plaine, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer and Madison Violet. Most shows offer an additional opening act (to be announced). Advance tickets start at $20 for most shows, and a season pass is available for all 11 shows.
Meanwhile, Northern Lights Folk Club has 13 shows on the program, most playing their regular venue at Parkview Community Hall. Tickets are $22 in advance, with season tickets and multipacks available. Favourite acts start and end the club’s 19th season, with Garnet Rogers in September and Martyn Joseph next April.
In between, you can check out the Dave Gunning & J.P. Cormier Duo, co-bills with Jon Brooks and Eileen Laverty, Chris Ronald Trio and Sam Spades, Coig and Daniel Champagne, Young Novelists and Andrew Collins Trio. Add the Lonesome Ace String Band, Hillsburn, a Songwriter Night and Women of Folkways (see northernlightsfc.ca).
T hat’s part of the lesson he taught me, that the most modern sound you can make is simply to be yourself.