Jay Hoggard: REVIEWS

THE RIGHT PLACE: ELOQUENT, EXPLOSIVE , EPIC. A WONDERFUL PRESENTATION
(by Michael F. Hopkins, c. 2007)

For the deeply spirited Jay Hoggard, this special album is a signature statement in a distinguished career filled with many such bright moments.

This, however, is even more. THE RIGHT PLACE bears the burning urgency of a master artist taking charge of his expression, a musician of great Faith and touching Joy making the most joyful of noises to uplift the heart and the mind. The debut album for the vibraphone master's own JHVM Recordings, THE RIGHT PLACE sings and swings with gleeful authority bearing a calm, winning impact.

A rhapsodic travelog of the Black aesthetic at its globespanning finest, Hoggard and friends weave a potent dance which takes us from tropic mist and sprawling veldt, through the challenge of urban prance and the finely measured breath of coming Home.

The malleteer is joined by stalwart colleagues here. The multifaceted Dwight Andrews is outstanding on reeds and flute, as Belden Bullock on bass provides a splendid discourse in the art of finger-talking. Legendary pianist Hilton Ruiz can be heard on a delightful tear, as percussion wonder Pheeroan AkLaff makes tempo-juggling merry amidst a team of percussion wizards (Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng on donno and congas, Asher De Lerme on timbales, bata and guiro).

The ever-ready, always steady James Weidman kindles a hearty flame on piano and organ, a persistent excellence which always makes his work stand out with conviction. Engineer Alec Head delivers the whole sound of this bountiful music with exceptional care and heightened grace.

Through compositional talespinning, playful daring and a determined focus which is second to none, the vibraphonist radiates the sheer fun and precious need of creativity as a human calling. Too, with reflections upon the work of Tito Puente as well as Bobby Hutcherson, Hoggard's own nimble malletry strikes resonant summons from the marimba, stirring Sun to rise and twilight to prepare devout enchantment to fortify the soul..

JHVM Recordings mark a fresh chapter in the ongoing tale of a great artist. SONGS OF SPIRITUAL LOVE and SWING 'EM GATES show the malleteer's vision and drive to be as powerful and magnificent as ever.

Meanwhile, from 2003, discover the intimate might and majesty of this master musician, and thrill in this landmark statement of cultural splendor.

Enjoy the loving welcome of THE RIGHT PLACE.

JAY HOGGARD SWING EM GATES

Jazz Improv Magazine’s New York Jazz Guide & Directory • January 2007 page 75
By Dan Bilawsky

Jay Hoggard’s music, which feeds off of jazz tradition and mixes in ethnic influences, world percussion, and classical traits, has always stood out from many other vibraphone players. I can recall listening to his Solo Vibraphone album and marveling at his wondrous rhythmic elasticity, energy-driven use of ornamentation and general spirit that traveled through his music. While Hoggard’s work has taken him to many exotic locales, geographically and musically, his roots in the straight-ahead, jazz vibraphone tradition are strong.

Lionel Hampton, credited as the “Vibes President” in Hoggard’s new CD, was a trailblazer for all vibraphone players who followed him and he’s paid a fitting tribute on Hoggard’s latest album. Hoggard often subbed for Hampton, in Hampton’s own band, during the 1990’s. The level of respect and admiration clearly comes through in this recording. Swing ‘Em Gates focuses, largely, on material that is associated with Hampton. Hoggard puts his own unique stamp on the music.

Take The A Train starts the proceedings and things seem fairly tame at the outset. Hoggard’s true colors come through after his initial run through the melody. The high point of the track comes when Hoggard, pianist James Weidman and Winard Harper, the talented drummer on board for the album, trade solos amongst each other. Flying Home,” became a signature song for Hampton, and Hoggard and his musical cohorts romp through a rousing rendition. Weidman’s piano work perfectly accentuates Hoggard’s soloing, and the descending run at the start of his solo is a terrific smile-inducing moment.

The seed of origin for the album title, Swing Em Gates, is an interesting story and Hampton anecdote. Hoggard asked Hampton about what songs to learn for one of his subbing dates. Hamp told the vibraphonist to “just swing ‘em gates.” Hoggard’s one original composition on the album is the title track. This tune fits in snugly with the standards on the album. The stylistic vein of the song draws from the same source as the other album material. How High The Moon is the first of three album tracks that feature the great Dr. Billy Taylor on piano. This track is also a standout because of Leon Lee Dorsey’s bass solo. Dorsey’s solid presence and terrific walking lines help to really anchor the ensemble throughout the entire album.

Hoggard begins Memories of You with gently floating sounds that are further buoyed by Dr.Taylor’s piano work. This duo performance, while strikingly different from the other performances on the album, contains the most delightfully nuanced and stirring music on the album.

James Weidman’s writing contribution to this release is a comfortably paced swing tune entitled Uptown Vibes. It returns to the musical territory that the band established on the first four tracks. Hoggard covers Air Mail Special, here, which he also performed, in an exciting and vastly different way on Solo Vibraphone. The current track has a bit more rhythmic thrust than the previous one.

In a Mellow Tone features some galloping phrases during solos from Weidman and Hoggard. Stardust begins with Dorsey’s firm, yet gentle, arco statement and the reins are then taken over by Hoggard’s vibraphone playing.The band takes a pleasant stroll through this song and this leisurely paced performance is delightful in its relaxed atmosphere. Winard Harper, while maintaining a low profile throughout the majority of the album, is to be commended for providing solid timing, crisp stick and brushwork, and a general sense of musicality that helps the music to swing. A nice run through Shiny Stockings with some energetic interaction and fills from Harper’s drums and the conga playing of Willie Martinez, ends the album with the spirit that is carried throughout.

Hoggard’s most straight-ahead recording to date is an appealing trip through nostalgic favorites that is sure to find a place into the collection of swing-era jazz fans and vibraphone lovers.

A Spiritual Connection
Vibraphonist Jay Hoggard talks music
by John Adamian - July 2005

Jazz composer, educator, vibraphonist and marimba player Jay Hoggard turned 50 last fall, and the big birthday milestone got him thinking about his career, his music, his life and his future.

In a rehearsal room at Wesleyan University, where he teaches in the music department and leads the jazz orchestra, Hoggard spoke with Preview recently. Jazz fans know the vibes -- the xylophone-like instrument of Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Tito Puente (all of whom Hoggard has collaborated with); the warm glowing sound, the haunting vibrato and sustain. But Hoggard jokes that the vibes' place in the instrumental hierarchy of jazz as "somewhere between the cello and the bagpipe."

Performing with his quintet on Friday, July 15, at 8 p.m. at Wesleyan's Crowell Concert Hall in Middletown, Hoggard is one of the leading jazz vibes and marimba players. As bandleader he's recorded over a dozen records. He's appeared on stages around the world. Hoggard has performed and recorded with everyone from Billy Taylor, Kenny Burrell, Geri Allen, Anthony Braxton, Chico Freeman and Henry Threadgill.

Hoggard, whose father was a bishop in the AME Zion church, has a commanding way of speaking. He punctuates funny lines with a roaring "ahh-HAH!" His speech can roll with a preacher's zeal or the headiness of an academic. His words can take on the playful riffing one might expect from a jazz musician. And he often clamps his eyelids down when concentrating, talking with his eyes tightly shut.

Hoggard is moving into a new phase of creativity. In addition to long-lived jazz icons like Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton, he's inspired lately by artists like Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and Vassily Kandinsky. "The painters in particular are very helpful to me in seeing that at a certain point you learn the vocabulary of the art form and then you start making your statement in that vocabulary," says Hoggard. "So, at 50, I've reached the point where I've learned the vocabulary, and I've been fortunate to make some statements all along in that cycle. Now, all the statements I'm trying to make are things with the stamp of my perspective, in the context of the larger vocabulary of jazz."

With classes over, summertime isn't slow for Hoggard, whose plans through August include work on three new CDs and performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center and elsewhere. Busy as he is, Hoggard remains careful about what he plays and records, in part because he knows the music's potency. Hoggard frequently plays drums at Middletown's Cross Street AME Zion Church, and he reveres rhythm, the backbeat in particular. "That really comes from a sacred African-American rhythm -- that sanctified shuffle [singing] ding chick-a-ding is a basic rhythm, then, of jazz. It's a transformed African rhythm, whether it's specifically from Ghana, Nigeria or Mali -- there's a whole tradition that has that rhythm." And popular music has made the most of the rhythm's appeal. Hoggard says the backbeat now is like processed sugar -- it's in everything. "I have learned certain things about the sacred rhythms -- I only really want to play in the context of a sacred situation because I know its power."

As a masters student, Hoggard studied the rich African and African-American xylophone traditions. His work naturally bridges the traditional and experimental, the sacred and the secular, the global and the local -- distinctions Hoggard doesn't entirely acknowledge.

"I think of it not as worlds that need to be resolved," he says. "I think of it as the spectrum of musical vocabulary." His most recent CD, Songs of Spiritual Love, features duos with Hoggard on vibes and James Weidman on piano and organ. The songs, which range from Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now" to James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing," all have a spiritual message, but to Hoggard, every time he plays, he makes a deep connection.

"The sacred stuff -- whether it's explicit or not that its intention is of a spiritual nature -- it's always fundamental every time I touch the instrument."

At times such as these, when the news headlines and accompanying photographs are so shocking, people often turn to religion to help them through. Some of us turn to spiritual music for solace and/or meditation.

Vibraphonist and Wesleyan Professor Jay Hoggard has teamed up with his good friend and keyboard artist James Weidman for a new recording. Titled �Songs of Spiritual Love� and released on Hoggard�s JHVM label, it�s a collection of African American spirituals and popular songs that are played straight from the heart and soul of the duo. Opening with a lovely rendition of �Lift Every Voice and Sing�, the disk is a joy from beginning to end. Whether it�s the sanctified soul of �Bridge Over Troubled Water� or the bluesy cry of �God Bless The Child�, these songs are meant to soothe the troubled soul.

Nothing is rushed and nothing is clich? Even the Bachrach/David chestnut �What the World Needs Now is Love� is performed with grace and caring. Perhaps it�s the bell-like tones of the vibraphone or the rich chordal background of the acoustic piano, but the music just soars. When Weidman switches to organ, one feels as if they�re in the front pew.

It�s rare when two fine improvisers get together and pay more attention to melody than to their �chops.� There are certainly moments when they let loose (�I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free� for instance) but I believe that Hoggard and Weidman feels that their audience knows the words to many of these songs and will have an emotional reaction to these renditions. There is no proselytizing by the artists, just music from the heart and the soul and what a joyful sound they make. For more information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/~jhoggard.

Hoggard, Ruiz Strut Their Stuff At Festival

After a day of varied, but uniformly fine concerts in Bushnell Park, Saturday ended with a muscular and pulsating performance by the Joey DeFrancesco (organ) Trio. The Soul Syndicate, a jazz funk band, was scheduled to extend the party DeFrancesco started at the carousel in the park.

But it was Jay Hoggard's Africaribbean Vibes that provided the second day of the Greater Hartford of Jazz with the three-day event's most transcendent music. Hoggard's six-song, 65-minute set displayed his vibes mastery and the intelligence and scope of his compositions, which used familiar and accessible concepts to create fresh and compelling music.

Hilton Ruiz, who melds the sass of the blues and the spice of salsa in his playing, traded delicious licks with Hoggard. Asher DeLerme, Kwaku Martin Obeng and Willie Martinez explored the power of percussion instruments to drive and focus music. Belden Bullock contributed reserved yet stylish work on bass, as the ensemble melded musical influences from West Africa, the barrio, the 'hood, the carnival and even the sanctified church.

The group played with grace, energy, generosity and elan. They earned the standing ovation many in the crowd gave them.

Hoggard has been playing the vibes since the age of 16 and was once proclaimed the "most dazzling new vibraphonist in jazz." He has performed, collaborated and recorded with some of the masters: Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Tito Puente, Kenny Burrell, Bobby Hutcherson, Max Roach, and Dr. Billy Taylor . Hoggard is currently a professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and is in constant demand as a composer, performer and recording artist
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The best recorded example of who Hoggard is and what he can do: This music will definitely make you feel better.

"The Right Place" (JHVM Recordings) is the first disc he has produced from start to finish. He wrote all but one of the 10 tracks, arranged them all, served as executive producer, chose the artwork and photography, and is negotiating the distribution rights.

From the get-go, the listener is bathed in a sensual percussive wash, courtesy of an active rhythm section. The producer chose to blend the African drums of Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng with the Latin percussion (timbales, bata drum) of Asher DeLerme, as well as the smart trap set work of Pheroan ak Laff. That mixture of sounds, when blended with Hoggard's marimba and the two-fisted approach of pianist James Weidman, creates a "Joyful Swamp" (track 2).

Hilton Ruiz, a master of modern Latin piano, appears on four tracks. "Guataca," written by Ruiz, has a delightful feel, from the bouncy conga work of Obeng to the silky soprano sax of Dwight Andrews to the leader's topsy-turvy solo. "Lessons from My Dad" has a lilting melody, more dusky marimba sounds and rhythms that hearken back to Africa. Ruiz's percussive piano leads the way on "Startin' the Blues en Clave" and pushes the leader with insistent chords on "La Tierra Hermosa."


Andrews, who has appeared on several of Hoggard's CDs and has written the scores for many of August Wilson's plays, shows his sweet soprano sax sound on several tracks. "Inner Rhythm" moves forward with the drive of a McCoy Tyner song as the soloists swoop above ak Laff's forceful playing. Talking drums, marimba and soprano sax lead the way on "Crossing Point." The solo section careers between a swift walking bass line and short, out-of-time releases. Andrews switches to bass clarinet and Weidman to organ for the slow, bluesy "Ring Shout" that closes the disk. The melody line feels as if it came to the writer on a slow walk through the city on an autumn day; no rush, no real worries - perhaps the effects of being finished with work after a long week.

"The Right Place" is definitely where Jay Hoggard is right now. He's learned much from the masters of jazz, the truly American art form. All of his solos sound assured, and his marimba playing on several of the tracks hearken back to his early recordings on the India Navigation label. Yet the heart and soul of this music - and it is very soulful - comes from his own day-to-day living, his teaching, family life, and the need to express himself in ways that uplift his craft while entertaining and, yes, even educating others.

Mr. Hoggard, a vibraphonist, was first active in New York's loft-jazz scene in the late 1970's ; he became one of the first-call players on his instrument in mainstream jazz thereafter. He's leading a couple of bands these days; this interesting seven-piece group includes woodwinds, piano and organ, bass, drums, and two percussionists besides Mr. Hoggard's own melodic and percussive instrument.

Vibraphonist Jay Hoggard has appeared with everyone from Cecil Taylor to Luther Vandross in an eclectic career that's included forays into avant garde, mainstream and pop jazz. His new release comfortably combines elements of all of the above while adding a healthy dose of his passion for Afro-Caribbean music.

The Right Place, which Hoggard dedicates to his parents, is a mostly upbeat affair filled with simple, accessible melodies backed by more intricate Latin and African rhythms. Hoggard, a music professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, has assembled a fine septet here, including pianist/organist James Weidman, Dwight Andrews on woodwinds, Belden Bullock on bass, and a trio of drummers and percussionists.

The selections, all but one penned by Hoggard, range from the light, pleasantly pop-ish title tune to a Coltrane-esque exploration on "Inner Rhythm" to an impressive, though brief, workout for Hoggard on solo marimba. Most compelling are four songs in the middle of the album featuring the superb Latin jazz/bebop pianist Hilton Ruiz, including "Startin' the Blues en Clave", which exemplifies Hoggard's goal of exploring the shared paths of African American and Caribbean music.

For all the diverse elements that go into the mix here, there's a cohesiveness and ease to the proceedings that makes it all come together smoothly and makes Jay Hoggard's The Right Place a good place to be.

Get on up and shake your booty to some tantalizing Africaribbean vibes from Jay Hoggard, with his new cd "The Right Place". Then head on down to the Jazz Gallery 290 Hudson Street, (212) 242-1063, and catch the man live. I can sum this cd up in three words, Fab U LOUS. This is one of those albums where-by you catch yourself grooving with the beat long after everybody else sees you. But then who cares about another person's opinion when the music is this good. He has recorded 15 cd's as leader and over 40 collaborations. He has performed with vibraphone masters Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Tito Puente and Bobby Hutcherson. Also, Jay was a guest artist with Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. Currently he is a professor at Wesleyan University. Jay's artistry is hailed as rich with universal quality. He says his recordings reflect his musical vision: solo and ensemble; acoustic and electric; original compositions and standards.