Nine Lives

Twice each year, bassist Ron Carter treats the audience at the landmark Birdland nightclub in New York City to a real jazz rarity: his own Nonet, replete with Carter on the half-sized piccolo bass, plus piano, drums, percussion, double bass, and a four-piece cello section headed by Kermit Moore. Now jazz fans finally have the chance to hear the recording that inspired the legendary Nonet. Recorded in 1990, Eight Plus languished in legal limbo for 13 years before its release this summer on the Dreyfus label. The CD captures this distinctive ensemble—with Carter plucking tasteful melodies over bassist Leon Maleson's driving rhythms—as it moves through six Carter originals, a cover of Leon Russell's ballad "A Song for You," and a reinterpretation of the gospel standard "A Closer Walk with Thee." When Carter conceived of the unusual strings project, he was looking for a group that would offer "warmth" to his ear. "I've always liked the way the cello sounds, having played one for a while before switching to string bass," says Carter, a veteran player who is arguably the most recorded jazz bassist in history. "The violin just seemed more bright than the sound I was looking for." Moore selected the other cello players (Chase Morrison, Carol Buck, and Rachel Steuermann) and to this day remains a pivotal figure in the Nonet. "If he's not available," Carter says of Moore, "we're not available." With the exception of former drummer Lewis Nash, the Nonet’s members have remained constant over the years. "Because there is a continuity of personnel, everyone feels so tied to the music that they approach it with a level of seriousness that matches what I put into it," says Carter, who is penning new material for the Nonet's December 17–20 shows at Birdland.

—Greg Cahill

We Did It Our Way

Who says America isn't all about second chances? Folks who caught only snippets of the American Mavericks radio series during their commute, or who missed it entirely, can listen to all 13 episodes at www.musicmavericks.org. The Minnesota Public Radio series, hosted by pop star Suzanne Vega (shown above), was inspired by the adventurous programming of the San Francisco Symphony's American Mavericks Festival, which presents music by the iconoclastic composers who shaped American music in the 20th century. In addition to the shows, the website contains a comprehensive collection of performances, interviews, essays, film, video, art, and two Web-radio streams—each with hard-to-find underground classics around the clock. Where else will you find out why the tone cluster symbolizes America's musical independence?

—James Keough

Land of Milken Honey

After 13 years in the making, the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music is set to launch the first five CDs of an ambitious 50-recording collection scheduled for release over the next two years. The initial discs, due in mid-September on the Naxos American Classics label, are among 600 recorded works spanning from Colonial times and ranging from Classical symphonies to Yiddish theater tunes to sacred compositions. The impressive recorded archive comprises 200 composers, either native born or immigrant, almost half of whom are still living. Gerard Schwarz of the Seattle Symphony serves as the project’s conductor and performers include the famous and conservatory students. "What we're really talking about here is music of American Jewish experience," says Neil Levin, artistic director of the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, "a record of the musical culture of American Jewry from the beginning. "The archive features such string music as John Zorn’s 1996 quartet Kol Nidre, the recorded premiere of Darius Milhaud's Etudes on Liturgical Themes for String Quartet (performed by the Juilliard Quartet), and Osvaldo Golijov’s klezmer-influenced chamber piece Rocketekya. For more details, visit www.milkenarchive.org.

—G.C.