JAZZTOWN '00: Tom Harrell, Lincoln Center Jazz, Billy Taylor and Sheila
Jordan
Fortunately for the shy of foot, that rule wasn’t enforced, and listeners
as well as dancers were allowed the pleasure of enjoying the classic swing
tunes and original compositions played by what is arguably the greatest
big-band in the world.
Led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the 15-piece ensemble kept dancers on the
floor and strutting their stuff at least until halftime, when an early
filing deadline spelled the end of the outing for this reviewer.
But in that first half, the LCJO, as it is known, showed itself to be a
precision outfit, dynamic, hard-swinging, and not afraid to have fun.
With the Hunter theater cleared of all seats except for folding chairs
lining the walls and some bleachers in the back, dancers were free to
stretch out and do their thing while listeners could walk right up to the
stage and get close and personal with the musicians.
And the musicians themselves seemed to enjoy the repartee with the crowd,
smiling and even chatting with some in between classic tunes like Frank
Foster’s “Chinese Stockings,” George Gershwin’s “Our Love Is Here to Stay”
and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train.”
The band interpolated new compositions by its members and associates into
the mix of classic swing and jump blues. Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon had
several of his songs featured, including “Cheeky” and “The Woogie,” as its
name implied, a boogie-woogie based swing tune.
While the instrumental sections functioned as tight mini-ensembles, several
soloists stood out from the pack. Among them were Ryan Kisor, who during
“Take the A Train” found something new and oddly poignant to say on that old
warhorse. Gordon made Andy Farber’s “Blues Train” his own with some witty
play with a plunger mute, and Marsalis finally let loose his inner Dizzy
Gillespie on a rendition of Juan Tizol’s “Perdido,” which capped the first
half. Vocalist Milt Grayson’s deep baritone was also featured on several
numbers, including “Lost in Loveliness” and “Love You Madly.”
Where the LCJO was all bold and brassy, Saturday night’s performance by the
Tom Harrell Quintet at Chapin Hall was painterly, calm, and introspective.
The nearly-ambient brushes of sound Harrell the composer and horn-player
produced were only occasionally rocked by turbulence, musical or emotional,
but there was great beauty and dignity in those strokes.
Playing flugelhorn throughout the evening, Harrell was a master of
precision and economy. His tone was all liquid, rounded edges, soft, muted
and burnished, reminiscent of the cool Miles Davis and the whispery Chet
Baker, but mostly a sound of his own making. Guitarist Freddie Bryant was an
apt foil for Harrell’s tone, as both players articulated their melodies with
fluid legato; one could say that Harrell played his horn like a guitar
player, and Bryant played guitar like a horn player. The truth, no doubt,
was probably somewhere in between.
Harrell didn’t directly address the audience at all, so song titles were
dispensed with. Instead, a typical number would begin with Harrell quickly
stating the theme, before passing the lead to an accompanist. Harrell most
often passed the lead to Bryant, who would quote Harrell and then write a
new tune based on Harrell’s melody. Pianist Xavier Davis was also a fleet,
versatile soloist, drawing on a wide range of styles, including two-handed
melody lines, block chords and stride. Bassist Ugonna Okegwo was almost as
fun to watch as to listen to; had he not been a bassist he seemingly would
have been a most graceful dancer. And Harrell’s solo passages, when they
came back around, tended to alternate short flurries of notes with a few
longer, drawn out notes, with plenty of silence as punctuation.
The ringer in the ensemble was drummer Leon Parker. A leader in his own
right, Parker fit right into the ensemble, and far from being a mere
timekeeper, he brought a panoply of musical values and textures to the
arrangements, both as a soloist and as an accompanist. As the latter, he
provided each soloist with a different background against which to make
their solo statement. On one number, for example, he gave Bryant a shuffle
beat to work with, while Davis got a steady pulse on the ride cymbal. For
bassist Okegwo, on the other hand, Parker provided conga-like backup by
playing his snare with his hands.
Even the wide publicity given to Harrell’s condition – he suffers from a
schizo-affective disorder – doesn’t quite prepare a concertgoer for the
sight of the genius on stage, seemingly trapped inside a world of his own.
When not playing, Harrell stands stock still, head down, chin on his chest,
horn dangling on his side.
Those moments, however, become nearly as eloquent as his playing, as a
listener is urged to hear Harrell’s accompanists through his ears, through
ears that presumably are full of static and other voices trying to crowd out
the beauty of Harrell’s compositions. One can also imagine how tempting and
therapeutic the urge and ability to lose oneself in the wash of music must
be in this situation, if only to impose some order on all the noise.
The weekend’s high profile schedule kicked off on Friday night at Chapin
Hall with a concert by Billy Taylor and Sheila Jordan. Taylor, a pianist and
educator, is perhaps best known as the host of a weekly jazz program on
National Public Radio, for which, as it turned out, this performance was
recorded for later broadcast.
As such, the format for the concert was dictated by the format for the
program. Unfortunately, what works well on the radio doesn’t necessarily
work as well in real life, and there was grumbling heard throughout the
weekend that concertgoers who were expecting a concert by Taylor and Jordan
instead got a lot of talk with some music mixed in.
What music was heard ranged from accessible easy listening to accessible
adventurism. Taylor was accompanied by Chip Jackson on bass and Winard
Harper on drums, and both musicians took some spectacular solo turns. Harper
goosed a version of Charlie Parker’s “Hothouse” with some hip-hop-styled
triplets, and also stretched some beats to the breaking point with some
well-placed silences. He also took “Titoro,” a Latinesque Taylor
composition, back to Africa in a stunning display of melodic percussion.
The 79-year-old Taylor showed why he is a perennially popular pianist on
crowd-pleasers like Duke Ellington’s ballad, “In a Sentimental Mood.” He
demonstrated how George Gershwin constructed “The Man I Love” out of a
common, four-note phrase, usually used to end a piece, which featured a
particularly florid solo interlude by the pianist.
About one-third of the way through the evening, Taylor brought out Jordan.
In between interview sections, where Jordan told of her early life growing
up in a Pennsylvania mining town and then struggling as a single parent in
New York working full-time as a typist and singing on weekends, she
performed with Taylor and his trio.
Jordan kept coming back to Charlie Parker as a key influence, and she
performed a tribute to Parker with original lyrics including these choice
phrases: “The Bird….Charlie Parker was his name…and bebop music was his
fame.” It also included the line, “Thank you Mr. Eastwood for making my
day,” a reference to the Clint Eastwood-directed biopic of the jazz
innovator. Jordan also scat-sang her way through George Gershwin’s
“Embraceable You.”
Jordan frequently performs with only bass accompaniment, and the one number
she performed in that style, a tune by Bobby Timmons, was the highlight of
her set. Jordan doesn’t have a conventionally pretty or even a particularly
dynamic voice. Her art, rather, is all in her phrasing, tone and pitch
control. When her voice is freed of the harmonic modulations of a comping
piano, it soars into unusual crevices and crannies, and perhaps this is why
she was best served in her voice-bass duet with Jackson.
Taylor, incidentally, made use of cue cards and a script for much of his
presentation. In this case improvisation was limited to the keyboard.
Jazztown also included various other events throughout the week, including
lectures, swing dance classes in which reportedly 400 schoolchildren learned
to do the Lindy Hop at Mass MoCA, jazz cocktail hours at area restaurants
featuring Williams alumni musicians, and a jazz brunch at the Williams Inn
featuring the Williams Reunion Jazz Band.
Seth Rogovoy rogovoy@berkshire.net music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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