| Well folks, my son and I went to Newport on Saturday. We saw a TON of GREAT music including a bunch of DB players I’d like to know more about. The lineup for the Sherrys:
North Carolina Central U Combo with Joey Calderazzo on the “C” Stage. To our surprise, the College Combo was DB, drums and percussion. They were playing standards and JC sounded mighty fine, displaying a marked affinity for Wynton Kelly which I hadn’t heard before. In the middle of “Speak Low” in walks Mr. Branford Marsalis, who blows some very sweet choruses on tenor and walks off. These would be the high point of the evening for most tenor players. For Bran, barely out of second gear, as in, “Coffee, please.” Nice as the Combo was, we’re off to
The Vijay Iyer Trio on the “B” Stage. If I heard it right it was Marcus Gilmore, drums and Stephan Crump, DB. Nice viol-shaped instrument which appeared to sport an AMT mic and a Realist. LOTS of bowing. They started off with Stevie Wonder’s “Big Brother.” Much of what I’ve heard from Dr. Iyer has been rather avant-garde. This performance struck a very nice balance between reach and grasp and I will probably take a hard look at the new album, “Historicity” on ACT. Since we were enjoying the Iyer 3 we were a little late for
Cedar Walton Trio with Lew Tabakin and Curtis Fuller on the “A” Stage. Mr. Tabakin sounded great as always – in a quiet way, he covers a lot of ground. Mr. Fuller, who is one of my favorite people, was literally inaudible because the blessed FoH soundman never bothered to turn on his mike. Unfortunately the same went for David Williams, Cedar Walton’s longtime double-bassist. What a shame. With regret and frustration, we headed off to the “B” Stage for
The Christian McBride Trio with Billy Hart and Mr. George Colligan. Man. Oh. This is THE STUFF. Believe it or not, Mr. McB was making his Newport bandleader debut. Playing his old Czech viol-shaped bass (which appears to have a new neck), he sounded like The Voice of The Bass. Bowing, soloing at high tempo, walking like a maternal-forcationist, working the crowd, Mr. McB was On Top, man. (Playing through a B-15N for what it’s worth.) Billy Hart sounded like water on a pond, as you’d expect. Mr. Colligan was just outstanding, folks. I WILL be getting more from him. Y’know how you get these calls, like, “Man, I REALLY need you, I gotta have you, please tell me you can make this gig” and you’re in the bathroom and you call back and the guy’s like, “Oh, you didn’t answer so I got Steve for the gig?” Well, Eric Reed is on the record and Mr. Colligan got to play the show. I can only imagine that he was just a very happy person for having answered the phone this time. This was a gig to remember and probably the highlight of the day from the double-bass perspective. So we showed up late for
Esperanza Spalding on the “A” Stage. Ms. Spalding is so easy to enjoy. Beautiful voice, sophisticated DB playing, great wicked tight band, and she’s a very attractive young woman. The sound guy had fixed the bass sound too. Much fun. (Check out her first record “Junjo” if you can find it. Since it’s not on Heads Up, Heads Up has not made it easy to find but it’s worth the effort.) Her band is very, very good. I’ve always had the thought that her band is first-rate young New Yorkers and that there are probably a few dozen young players of equal skill, but when you get to tour the world together for two years you get Damn Good. Another “Glad I answered the phone” moment, y’know.
Back to the “C” Stage for the Branford Marsalis - Joey Calderazzo Duo. Where else can you see players of this stature in a 200-seat venue? These guys have played together for over ten years and they are true musical brothers. Nobody tops Branford’s tone on soprano and he is every bit as fine on tenor. What a joy.
Then back to the “A” Stage for the Joshua Redman Double Trio. Here’s a band: JR on horn with Omer Avital, DB and Gregory Hutchinson, drums on one side and Matt Penman and Brian ****ing Blade on the other. Both bass-players were amazingly good and worked hard to work together – I’d never heard of Mr. Penman. And Greg Hutchinson is an amazing technical and musical drummer; I enjoyed him last year with Mr. Redman enormously. But holy schmoly, Brian Blade is on some of my favorite musical moments of the past ten years and I’ve never seen him live and he truly is the Scott LaFaro of the drumset. At no time did Mr. Blade ever play straight time. At no time did the groove ever lag. What a master musician. What a study – there is so much to learn, and so much to enjoy, from Mr. Blade’s music.
A brief stop at the “C” Stage for the NC Central Big Band. Sounded fine. The kids, many of whom were wandering around all day with their NCC t-shirts and “Holy ****, man!” look, were obviously inspired to bring their best. Further your correspondent sayeth naught.
A dip over to the “B” Stage for a tune from Jane Monheit’s band with Neal Minor and two of Ms. Monheit’s in-laws. Mr. Minor sounded very, very solid. Ms. Monheit was a cool singer in the musical sense. Not my cuppa.
Back to the “A” Stage for Branford Marsalis’ New Quartet. Retaining Joey Calderazzo on piano, Mr. Marsalis has parted company with bassist Eric Revis and drummer of 30 years JeffTain Watts. (Interesting to note that the first tune was Mr. Watts’ composition, “Return of the Jitney Man.”) The new drummer is Justin Faulkner, reportedly still in his teens, and he sounded great. It’s no insult to say that Mr. Faulkner has all of Mr. Watts’ energy but does not yet have all of Mr. Watts’ pallette. The new bassist is Neil Caine and wow, talk about big shoes. Branford Marsalis has enjoyed substantial musical relationships with bassists including Mr. Revis, Robert Hurst (who sounds so fine on “Bloomington”), Reginald Veal, Lonnie Plaxico, and of course that Ron Carter guy. Mr. Caine sounded good, but the last BMQ was a band that started in fifth gear and went on from there. This version did not get out of third and Mr. Caine’s lack of familiarity with the book was a major reason why. (I can’t imagine that Mr. Marsalis woke up and said, “I’m gonna play ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing’ this afternoon.”) It’s quite likely that two years from now this band will again be a force of nature.
On to the “C” Stage for the Miguel Zenon Quartet. Here’s a band for you: Luis Perdomo on piano, Hans Glawischnig on bass & Henry Cole drumming. Mr. Zenon is known for bringing a Puerto Ricano folklorica element to a synthesis of up-to-the-minute jazz and salsa. As you’d expect from the personnel, this band was tight as a drum, musical at every turn and taking chances too. They know this very intricate book and can leave it as appropriate. I will be scoping Mr. Glawischnig much more having seen him in this context. Great band and yet another Newport Learning Moment for yours truly.
With that, we decided to forego Mos Def’s rap set and head back to our respective homes.
What can I tell you, folks. It costs $65.00 for a ticket and $15.00 to park. We try to go every year because we see months of music in a day, most of which never comes to Maine. We learn about music and players we come to respect and even love (in the musical sense). And I get to spend the time with my kid to boot. If I’m lucky, I’ll see you there next year.
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"We can give to those who listen to the essence the best of what we are. But to do that, at each stage we have to keep on cleaning the mirror." -- John Coltrane
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