I’ve had an awesome few weeks. It has forced me to write. Of course, I haven’t been as faithful to the blog. I started on new adventure and I’ve have had my attention elsewhere. But I couldn’t leave this alone.
So back to my awesome few weeks - first, it was NBA All Star Weekend in Dallas. Though I did want to see the game and possibly hit a party or two, the thing that I got to do excited me most. My favorite trumpet player and my friend,
ROY HARGROVE was doing a show in town. The first show he’s had in Dallas in years. The brothers at
SANDAGA MARKET brought him to town. Fortunately, his wingman and also my friend, saxophone player
KEITH ANDERSON and also keyboardist/organist
BOBBY SPARKS of the
RH FACTOR band also live in Dallas. Along with
CHUCK SMITH on Bass,
JASON “JT” THOMAS on drums and
BERNARD WRIGHT on Keyboards, this was setup to be a great night. However, it was not. Grove got stuck in Atlanta or somewhere because of the weather and didn’t get into town until Saturday night. The wife and I had plans so I could not attend the Saturday show. I decided to go by Saturday evening after our previous engagement and got to laugh and talk to my old friends. He told me that they were going to do a matinee show the next day. So Sunday, February 14, I got to take my girl to hear my friends play. It was her first time and my first time in years. Since the matinee show was a jam session of sorts, saxophonist
Quamon Fowler also played a couple of tunes with the group.
My wife instantly became a fan of Keith Anderson. And I have to say, when we were growing up this kid was better than anybody our age. He's only gotten better! His sound is big and full. And I too became a fan, all over again.
The show was focused mostly on music from
HARD GROOVE but sprinkled in a joint or two from some other records including STRAUSBURGH, my favorite tune from the
EARFOOD offering. Also, Grove played a tribute to his mother, who was also in the audience, by playing IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD. It was played as a duo. Grove turned to his flugelhorn and played it over a beautiful keyboard strings arrangement played by Wright. I doubt that it had been practiced but it was done so well. It spoke to the musicianship of both artists. My wife recognized the melody immediately from the movie LOVE JONES. I think Hargrove gained a new fan.
The last few times I saw Hargrove perform he had done so with his acoustic groups. But I really like the HARD GROOVE record. So seeing this band along with all the effects made me appreciate a new dynamic in Grove's and Keith's playing.
As for the venue, SANDAGA MARKET, it is a place that only a jazz fan could love. It's decor, with the mixed match chairs, tables and plastic table cloths is primitive to say the least. But all a real jazz fan needs is a place to sit or lean and great acoustics. Sandaga has that.
It was great to see and hear the RH FACTOR band. I hope they are not done recording. I'm sure they have many great perfomances and songs left in them.
Several weeks ago, the wife and I went to the
MORTON H. MEYERSON SYMPHONY CENTER here in Dallas to hear the Dallas String Orchestra's renditions of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Schumann's Symphony No. 4. We found out that
WYNTON MARSALIS was bringing the
LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA, which he does most every year. I had forgotten about it. She didn’t and bought me tickets for Valentine’s Day. She’s so sweet!
It’s not the first time I’ve seen Wynton and the LCJO but I always enjoy him when he comes. He’s not only and incredible horn player, his showmanship is engaging and worth the price of admission. He played three sold out shows in Dallas.
This year’s show was dedicated as a collaboration of music artists and painters. The LCJO just released a new CD entitled
PORTRAIT IN SEVEN SHADES that was penned by
TED NASH. Nash is reedman with the LJCO. If I remember correctly he and the LJCO were commissioned by
THE MUSUEM OF MODERN ART in New York to create this piece.
I’ll give you my impressions of the entire show.
The orchestra began the first set with a tune written by
CHRIS CRENSHAW. Crenshaw plays trambone and is from Georgia. He joined the LJCO in 06, which means to me that I haven’t seen this group since at least then as he is one of the newer members of the group and I had never seen him before. I don’t remember the name of his tune but it was a fun up tempo swing piece that had a second movement that turned into a ballad with a seductive tenor sax lead played by
VICTOR GOINES. The 3rd movement was lead into by a stride piano soli played by
DAN NIMMER.
The next piece was penned by trambonist,
VINCENT GARDNER. If I have the title right it was called BLUE TWIRL. It is when avant-garde meets jazz orchestras. The song had many dimensions and seemed like a bit of experimentation. The song then turned into sections of beautiful melodies and then took a sharp turn and then began to swing as hard as possible. As I watched them play, it sruck me how difficult the music was and they were playing it sans director. Wynton mentioned how difficult it was to play sans director when they finished playing the tune.
The next piece was dedicated to the art of landscape painter WINSLOW HOMER. The tune was written for LJCO by guitarist and jazz great
BILL FRISELL entitled
HOMER’S BLUES. It was standard 12 bar blues with a lot of movement in all sections of the group. It was the first of Wynton’s solos for the night. He appeared to be so into this solo – I think playing the Blues is his favorite thing to do – I wasn’t sure if he was going to throw himself from the chair he was sitting in.
From there the LJCO played the 7 tunes that were featured on the PORTRAIT IN SEVEN SHADES document.
MONET – Is a lightly swinging piece. It felt like a leisurely walk through Central Park in the rain.
DALI – was written for the impressionist Salvador Dali. Nash described how Dali’s paintings spoke of discomfort and something chaotic. He said the time signature was in 13/8. I couldn’t figure it out. But it felt good.
PICASSO – was written inspired by the cubism in his art. It was written with 4 chords, with 4 part harmonies and 4 this and 4 that. I couldn't figure out all the fours. The composition speaks to the intellectualism of jazz. It started predicated on a Spanish theme. I thought of it as Spanish Bullfighting Jazz. The 2nd movement turned into a funky four. Nash referred to Gardner and Marsalis and battling matadors for being featured in these songs.
VAN GOUGH – Nash described this tune as an attempt to provide a nourishing environment for Van Gough’s tragic life. It featured Wynton at his best as he lead the ensemble in this ballad. The best thing about this tuen was the singing by VINCENT GARDNER. With lyrics like, “When I paint the sky, I wonder why you don’t share my view…When I paint the sky, I wonder why you don’t see my love…I paint for you”.
CHAGALL - I started thinking of Russian death marches when I heard this song. Then I started thinking of gangster movies or Mike Hammer. I didn’t start to like it until Walter Blanding started to wail away on soprano saxophone. At that point it got interesting. But as a whole I didn’t like the song much. But I'm not willing to say that the song was not good. Themeatically, it fit the artist.
POLLOCK - Was written for Jackson Pollock the abstract impressionist. The music challenged the dexterity of all the players in the band…and my spelling of the word dexterity. It was furious fugue that morphed into a mid tempo swinger back to a furious fugue. My fingers were confused watching the trumpet and sax players work.
All and all, I loved every minute of the concert. I was so very disappointed that the concert was done after only two hours including intermission. But I got to spend those two hours with my favorite music AND my favorite girl.
So after the show was over, the wife and I, feeling adventurous, decided to head down to the Green Room to see if we could meet Wynton - and we did. I got to talk to him about our shared love for
ROMARE BEARDEN. When I had my first apartment, I took the album covers for Soul Gestures in Blue - Volumes
One,
Two and
Three and used them for wall art. We also talked about Cassandra Wilson - my favorite singer.
I also met, Ali Jackson (drummer) and Vincent Gardner (trambone). I saw Chris Crenshaw (trambone) but I didn't get to talk to him. I wanted to meet Sean Jones (trumpet), but he never came out. I wrote about one of
JONES' records on this blog. Someone wanted to take me to task about something I commented on. They have the right too because I wrote it for public consumption. But I hope they understood that I love Sean's record.
Before I got to Marsalis, my wife and I watched as he engaged all the young people personally. He was gracious and personable in a southern gentlemen kind of way. I've taken exception on occasion to Marsalis and his rants against popular music...but this night, he was just a cool dude talking about life and jazz. I could respect that and I was glad to finally meet him.
It was a good night...
Wynton Marsalis, music director, trumpet
Sean Jones, trumpetRyan Kisor, trumpet
Marcus Printup, trumpet
Vincent Gardner, trombone
Chris Crenshaw, trombone
Elliot Mason, trombone
Sherman Irby, alto saxophone
Ted Nash, alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet
Walter Blanding, Jr., tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet
Victor Goines, tenor and soprano saxophones, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet
Joe Temperley, baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet
Dan Nimmer, piano
Carlos Henriquez, bass
Ali Jackson, drums
