Jazz Matters, Jazz Cultures by David Ake
David Ake, Ph.D.

Department of Music

Church Fine Arts / 226

University of Nevada, Reno

Reno, NV 89557-0049

Phone: (775) 784-6145
Fax: (775) 784-6896

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Home > Faculty & Staff > David Ake, Ph.D.

David Ake, Ph.D.

Director, School of the Arts
Associate Professor, Piano, Musicology, Jazz & Improvisational Music

Contact Information

  • Office: AB 631A
  • Phone: (775) 682-8803
  • Email:
Publications and Recordings (Click Here)

 

Upcoming Performances Jazz Matters
Sound, Place, and Time since Bebop

By David Ake

What, where, and when is jazz? To most of us jazz means small combos, made up mostly of men, performing improvisationally in urban club venues. But jazz has been through many changes in the decades since World War II, emerging in unexpected places and incorporating a wide range of new styles. In this engrossing new book, David Ake expands on the discussion he began in Jazz Cultures, lending his engaging, thoughtful, and stimulating perspective to post-1940s jazz. Ake investigates such issues as improvisational analysis, pedagogy, American exceptionalism, and sense of place in jazz. He uses provocative case studies to illustrate how some of the values ascribed to the postwar jazz culture are reflected in and fundamentally shaped by aspects of sound, location, and time.

  • Publisher: University of California Press
  • Publish Date: September 20, 2010
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0520266897
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520266896
  • Purchase from amazon.com

 

 

Upcoming Performances In Between

David Ake

Announcing the release of In Between from David Ake. Recorded during one five-hour session on April 10, 2005, In Between marks Ake’s first CD devoted entirely to solo piano. The disc features original compositions, as well as Ake's unique takes on a handful of tunes by the likes of Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, and others.

Track Listings

1. Dalton Trumbo (David Ake)
2. In Between (David Ake)
3. Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller)
4. Friday the 13th (Thelonious Monk)
5. Boats (David Ake)
6. Parisan Thoroughfare (Bud Powell)
7. Jimmy Rowles (David Ake)
8. Inverted Fountain (David Ake)
9. Blues (David Ake)
10. Embraceable You (G. & I. Gershwin)
11. Faire La Grasse Matinée (David Ake)
12. Two Colors (David Ake)
13. A Beautiful Friendship (Styne & Kahn)

 

 

 

Upcoming Performances Jazz Cultures

By David Ake

From its beginning, jazz has presented a contradictory social world: jazz musicians have worked diligently to erase old boundaries, but they have just as resolutely constructed new ones. David Ake's vibrant and original book considers the diverse musics and related identities that jazz communities have shaped over the course of the twentieth century, exploring the many ways in which jazz musicians and audiences experience and understand themselves, their music, their communities, and the world at large.

Writing as a professional pianist and composer, the author looks at evolving meanings, values, and ideals--as well as the sounds--that musicians, audiences, and critics carry to and from the various activities they call jazz. Among the compelling topics he discusses is the "visuality" of music: the relationship between performance demeanor and musical meaning. Focusing on pianists Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, Ake investigates the ways in which musicians' postures and attitudes influence perceptions of them as profound and serious artists. In another essay, Ake examines the musical values and ideals promulgated by college jazz education programs through a consideration of saxophonist John Coltrane. He also discusses the concept of the jazz "standard" in the 1990s and the differing sense of tradition implied in recent recordings by Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell.

Jazz Cultures shows how jazz history has not consisted simply of a smoothly evolving series of musical styles, but rather an array of individuals and communities engaging with disparate--and oftentimes conflicting--actions, ideals, and attitudes.

  • Publisher: University of California Press
  • Publish Date: January 7, 2002
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0520228898
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520228894
  • Purchase at Amazon.com

 

The Collective Recordings

 

Once and Again Once and Again

The Collective

Album Notes: The Collective ...proudly announces the release of its latest cd, Once And Again. Recorded in June 2007, Once And Again features trumpeter Larry Engstrom, pianist David Ake, bassist Hans Halt, drummer Andrew Heglund, and, saxophonist Peter Epstein. This recording displays all of the fire, versatility, and inventiveness that audiences throughout the West have come to expect of this unit.

 

 

Balance Balance

The Collective

  • Recorded July 22 & 23, 2005
  • Recording and Mixing Engineer: Tom Gordon
  • Mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Records
  • Upon completion of this album: The Collective sends its warmest thanks to Tom Gordon, Andy Barbera, CJ Walters, Danna Higley at HUNA, Reno's For the Love of Jazz Society, Dent Hand, Ed Corey, Julia Bledsoe, and the rest of the faculty, staff, students and administration of UNR. Extra thanks to our families and friends for the continued love and support.
  • Release Date: 2006
  • Song Title Composer Time
      1. Balance David Ake 3:28
      2. Friday the 13th Thelonious Monk 2:30
      3. Women's Dance Milcho Leviev 6:20
      4. Ornette's Advice Peter Epstein 5:00
      5. Jitterbug Waltz Fats Waller 5:11
      6. We Do? David Ake 4:15
      7. Lone Pine David Ake 4:34
      8. Mirrors Hans Halt 5:54
      9. Brilliant Colors Thelonious Monk 3:55
    10. Fun Nat Adderly 6:20
    11. Fat Morning David Ake 6:33

 

 

Boats Boats

The Collective

Album Notes: Recorded in May 2003, Boats features trumpeter Larry Engstrom, pianist David Ake, bassist Hans Halt, drummer Andrew Heglund, and the Collective's newest member, saxophonist Peter Epstein.

Release Date: 2003

 

 

 

North North

The Collective

The Collective, one of the most creative and distinctive jazz ensembles in the northwestern United States, features trumpeter Larry Engstrom, pianist David Ake, bassist Hans Halt, and drummer Andrew Heglund. 11 Songs.

EEA Recordings

 

Upcoming Performances The Dark

EEA

  • “...the three members work in synchronous fashion to weave a series of songs that stand alone, while flowing from one to the next to produce a compelling musical journey.”
    -Brad Walseth, JazzChicago.net
  • From Origin Records: The Dark marks the debut release of EEA, a newly formed ensemble consisting of saxophonist Peter Epstein, Larry Engstrom on trumpet, and pianist David Ake, three longtime colleagues and collaborators. Whether performing original compositions, collective improvisations, or overlooked gems from the jazz repertoire, The Dark explores the full range of moods and textures afforded by this unusual instrumentation. Epstein, Engstrom, and Ake have performed and recorded alongside many of the world's finest artists in jazz and improvisational music, including Ralph Alessi, Uri Caine, Scott Colley, Ravi Coltrane, Peter Erskine, Charlie Haden, Bobby Previte, and Miroslav Tadic. EEA allows all of their varied experiences to make its way into their music. The result is a rare mix of sounds and approaches honed over decades of creative and diverse music making.

 

  • Produced by EEA
  • Recorded & mixed byTom Gordon at Imirage Sound Lab (Sparks, NV)
  • Recorded on January 19 and 20, 2008
  • Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk
  • Cover art by Imo
  • Photography by Chad McCullough
  • Cover design by John Bishop
  •  
  • TRACKS:
    • 1 The Dark 7:47
    • 2 Keystone 4:45
    • 3 Improvisation 1 2:48
    • 4 African Flower 8:12
    • 5 Palhaço 7:27
    • 6 Polar 4:11
    • 7 Improvisation 2 1:40
    • 8 Time Falls (Like Snow) 4:03
    • 9 Improvisation 3 1:41
    • 10 Birthday Boy 4:00
    • 11 Heaven 4:25

 

David Ake is Director of the School of the Arts and Associate Professor in the Department of Music. He has published widely on jazz and popular musics, including the books Jazz Cultures (2002) and Jazz Matters (2010) for the University of California Press. As a pianist, Ake has worked alongside many of today’s outstanding improvising musicians. Among his many recordings are the solo-piano CD In Between, which JazzTimes hailed as “poignant” and “luminous,” The Dark with EEA (Origin Records) and four releases with The Collective, UNR’s faculty jazz quintet. Honors received include the Nevada Regents Teaching Award, UNR’s Mousel-Feltner Award for Outstanding Research and the F. Donald Tibbitts Distinguished Teaching Award.

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