Puppet Mischief is New York-based saxophonist John Ellis’ sixth release as a leader and second with his New Orleans-based Double Wide band, which includes organist Brian Coogan, sousaphonist Matt Perrine and drummer Jason Marsalis. It’s an intriguing, often infectious nine-track release that mixes the brass-band and uniquely syncopated sounds of the Big Easy with carefully composed music and complex horn arrangements more typically associated with the Big Apple. Also, as Ellis notes, the tunes takes their cues from “carnivals, state fairs, children laughing, clowns and dancing.”

Recorded in New Orleans and released in late February, Puppet Mischief is Ellis’ first outing on the ObliqSound imprint. It arrives on the heels of a busy and artistically satisfying 2009 for the 35-year-old saxophonist. During that 12-month stretch, Ellis performed with a Sting, Mos Def and Cuban drummer Ignacio Berroa; toured Europe with the John Patitucci Trio; and debuted “The Ice Siren,” Ellis’ hour-long through-composed narrative composition for string quartet, tuba, percussion, guitar, vibes, winds and two singers. The piece, a collaborative effort with playwright Andy Bragen, debuted at Manhattan’s Jazz Gallery in May. (On June 18, Ellis and his cohorts will again stage “The Ice Siren” at the Jazz Gallery as part of the Care Fusion George Wein Summer Festival.)

Certainly Ellis is making his mark in New York these days. But as Puppet Mischief makes abundantly clear, a big part of the saxophonist’s heart will always lie in the rich culture and singularly funky sounds of New Orleans.

For more information on John Ellis, go to www.johnaxsonellis.com.

The MacDowell Colony, the nation’s leading artist residency program, will present it 51st Edward MacDowell Medal to composer and saxophonist Sonny Rollins on Sunday, August 15. The MacDowell Medal has been awarded annually since 1960 to individuals who’ve made outstanding contributions to their fields, and this year marks the first time the Colony has recognized the field of jazz. Rollins joins an impressive list of past recipients, including Leonard Bernstein, Alice Munro, I.M. Pei, Merce Cunningham and Georgia O’Keefe.

The award ceremony will take place on the MacDowell Colony grounds in New Hampshire, and will be open to the public. Robert MacNeil, chairman of the the MacDowell Colony will award the medal after jazz critic Gary Giddins, this year’s presentation speaker, introduces Rollins to the audience.

“I’m proud and pleased to be selected to receive this very special prize,” Rollins said. “Edward MacDowell’s spirit engaged me many years ago when, as a child, I was inspired by his composition ‘To a Wild Rose.” Later I had the opportunity to make it a part of my repertoire, performing it on many occasions and eventually recording it. Somehow I feel I’m getting to meet him again.”

In naming Rollins the 2010 Medalist, Giddins, also chairman of this year’s Medalist Selection Committee, said, “Much as the MacDowell Colony represents to countless artists a matchless paradise for inspired, uninterrupted creativity, this year’s medalist represents the zenith of his art. Perhaps more than any other artist since World War II, Sonny Rollins has personified the fearless adventure, soul, wit, stubborn individuality and relentless originality that is jazz at its finest. From the time he began recording, at 19, he was recognized as a major talent. His innovative approach to the tenor saxophone was endlessly copied, and his original compositions frequently adapted. But in jazz, composer and performer are often one and the same, and perhaps his key achievement has been the forging of an improvisational method that has given the idea of theme-and-variations a renewed vitality. His singular music is at once reassuring in its fortitude and daring in its detours. Incapable of faking emotion or settling for rote answers to the challenges of creating music in the moment, he keeps us ever-alert to the power of the present.”

Since the inception of the Edward MacDowell Medal, the Colony has rotated it among its seven artistic disciplines. Rollins is the 14th medalist in music composition, but the very first in the field of jazz. He follows such luminaries as Aaron Copland (1961), Edgard Varese (1965), Roger Sessions (1968), William Schuman (1971), Walter Piston (1974), Virgil Thomson (1977), Samuel Barber (1980), Elliott Carter (1983), Leonard Bernstein (1987), David Diamond (1991), George Crumb (1995), Lou Harrison (2000) and Steve Reich (2005).

In its 102-year history, MacDowell has provided Fellowships to more than 950 composers, including Bernstein and Copland, as well as other well-known artists such as Anthony Davis, Lukas Foss, Meredith Monk, Paul Moravec, Ned Rorem and Duncan Sheik. These composers are part of  the more than 6,500 artists from all disciplines who have worked at the Colony, including playwrights Thornton Wilder and Suzan-Lori Parks; visual artists Benny Andrews and Milton Avery; writers Willa Cather, Alice Walker and Alice Sebold; and architects Les Robertson and Tom Kundig.

Following this year’s Medal Day ceremony, guests can enjoy picnic lunches on Colony grounds. MacDowell artists-in-residence will then open their studios to the public from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend Medal Day.

Rollins will resume his 2010 performance schedule in April, with concerts in Detroit (4/6), Chicago (4/9), Boston (4/18), Seattle (5/10), Berkeley (5/13), Los Angeles (5/16), Davis, CA (5/19), and Burlington, VT (6/12). He’ll appear at the Winnipeg (6/23), Montreal (6/27), North Sea (7/11), Perugia (7/16), and Molde (7/20) Jazz Festivals, and will perform three concerts in Japan in early October. A European tour is being finalized for November. Rollins is also planning a special New York concert around his September 7th birthday and expects to announce details by early spring.

Click on photos, that highlight with your cursor, to watch interviews and live shows. Click on any album cover to listen to new music. Enjoy.

Boudoir Rouge

The album, Le Kat explains, “is about love, lust and desire. It’s a musical fusion of the past and present that takes you on a dream-like journey back to another time. Call it nouveau glamour of old Hollywood. I was inspired by the Jazz Age in Paris and iconic artists such as Django Reinhardt, Josephine Baker, Cole Porter and Cab Calloway as well as by Hollywood glamour goddesses of the 1930s like Marlene Dietrich.”

Le Kat is assisted on Boudoir Rouge by a fine cast of musicians: guitarist and keyboardist William Tabanou (who also co-produced 13 of the album’s tracks), guitarist and banjo player Aaron Kaplan, bassist Brett Simons, saxophonist and clarinetist Doug Webb, trumpeter Larry Williams, percussionist and washboard player David Langlois, pianist Jimmy Levine and drummer Mark David.

Le Kat — a Hollywood, California, native whose real name is Kathy Lester — wrote nine of the songs on this stylistically diverse record, which includes vintage-sounding jazz numbers, theatrical cabaret tunes, pop, and moody torch songs. All of the material exudes a smoky, come-hither slinkiness. Basically, the disc is good fun. At this point, Le Kat probably shouldn’t be counted among the world’s great singers or stylists, but what she presently lacks in technical ability she makes up for with sass and spunk. On the whole, this is a nice debut effort.

For more information, go to www.lekatmusic.com

On Saturday, June 26, Jazz Aspen Snowmass will present “JAS @ 20!” which will feature a big band backing a number of artists. Directed by JAS Distinguished Artist in Residence Christian McBride, the show will also feature Dianne Reeves, Patti Austin, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Terence Blanchard, John Clayton and more.

The 12-member group Pink Martini will perform at the Benedict Music Tent on Sunday, June 27. Says bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale, “At one moment you feel like you’re in the middle of a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro, and in the next moment, you’re in a French music hall of the 1930s or a palazzo in Napoli. It’s a bit like an urban musical travelogue.”

The closing night of the festival will take place on Saturday, July 3, and will feature Natalie Cole, who had to cancel an appearance with JAS last July due to a kidney transplant.

For more information — including a full slate of what’s happening at this year’s Jazz Aspen Snowmass — or to order tickets, go to www.jazzaspen.org. Tickets are also available at 866-527-8499.