David Adler
November 2002

New York @ Night
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By David R. Adler

"I’m not a jazz musician doin’ this stuff, I’m just doin’ this stuff." So spoke Don Byron at a Q&A session following his latest "Contrasting Brilliance" concert at the gorgeous, newly renovated Symphony Space. Byron always prods his audiences to reject musical boundaries; in previous shows he’s taken up the cause of Henry Mancini, Sly Stone, and the Sugar Hill Gang. For the November concert he posited Stravinsky and Raymond Scott as kindred spirits of a sort. Leading a rotating cast of at least 20 players, including Ralph Alessi, Mark Helias, Ralph Peterson, and George Colligan, Byron constantly intermingled the different musics. The program jumped from small jazz band (the Bug Music group, essentially) to string quartet, solo piano to clarinet trio plus voice, and so on — all leading up to the climactic "Ebony Concerto," Stravinsky’s 1946 commission for the Woody Herman Orchestra. As the stage crew ran around switching stands and mics at a feverish pace, Byron insisted on maintaining a highly informal atmosphere. "I told everyone to wear jeans," Byron later explained. "Some of these folks had to go out and buy some."

Easily one of the most important musicians of our era, Byron lives and breathes everything from "legit" to hip-hop. He has no patience for classical stuffiness and hierarchy. He loves Stravinsky with a vocal enthusiasm usually reserved for, say, Zeppelin. "This is the people’s skronk," he remarked after the show. Stravinsky’s genius, according to Byron, was to present extremely difficult material and make audiences like it — in other words, to reconcile the "severe" and the "cute." As it happens, this is Byron’s mission as well, and it came through loud and clear during this fabulous performance.

A band with two guitars and a piano may strike one as hopelessly overcrowded, but Gary Bartz avoided the expected pitfalls when he played the Jazz Standard. There were different special guests all week, but on Wednesday, guitarist Peter Leitch joined forces with his stylistic polar opposite, Paul Bollenback. Leitch’s right-hand technique is startlingly awkward; it’s a wonder he can get such stirring results. His lines are involved but consistently melodic, his tone full and round. The far less traditional Bollenback made copious use of effects, some of which were quite radical in this setting. But his two unexpected switches to nylon-string acoustic — on non-ballads, no less — softened the impact of his digital tinkering. Pianist Barney McCall, bassist James King, and drummer Greg Bandy completed the lineup. Bartz, segueing between songs without pauses, was soulful and energized on alto and curved soprano. A minor train wreck during "Moment’s Notice" came as a surprise, but otherwise the band was in strong form.

Joined by Gary Thomas, Mulgrew Miller, John Patitucci, and special guest Gregoire Maret, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington set up shop at the Kaplan Penthouse for an explosive three-night run, playing music mainly from Jazz Is a Spirit, her long-awaited sophomore release. Saturday’s show featured Lars Danielson’s clever blues "Little Jump" as well as a batch of highly rewarding Carrington compositions, including "Middle Way," "The Corner," and an epic, unrecorded piece called "Hopscotch." (Unfortunately, I was not among those who got to hear her rendition of Hendrix’s "Burning of the Midnight Lamp.") Not only was this a particularly forward-thinking Year of the Drum event, it was probably one of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s most potent bookings thus far. During the second set, the only other person at my table was Cassandra Wilson. To share many of her reactions, and witness her boundless love of music, only added to the pleasure.

Fred Hersch’s quintet run at the Jazz Standard was memorable not simply for its musical excellence but also for its pairing of Kenny Wheeler and Mark Turner in the frontline. Bassist Ben Street and drummer Nasheet Waits, two of Turner’s regular cohorts, added tremendously to the band’s presence and cohesion. Hersch, Wheeler, and Turner are cerebral, introverted players with remarkably compatible sounds and harmonic approaches. Between the three of them, there wasn’t a single weak moment. Hersch broke up the set with a pair of duets, first with Wheeler on the trumpeter’s "Old Ballad," then with Turner on "Sarabande." Wheeler’s fluegelhorn sounded as broad as a bowed cello at times — fat enough to slip slightly out of tune and still caress the ear.

There must have been a bright bulb shining over Liberty Ellman’s head when he decided to augment his working trio with tenor saxophonist Mark Shim. The guitarist has been developing his writing and playing in the company of bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Derrek Phillips for some time; the addition of Shim adds not only a highly compelling solo voice but also a more forceful presentation overall. At the Jazz Gallery, Ellman’s writing sounded dense and polished; his dry, biting lines offset Shim’s edgy post-Joe Henderson maelstroms. The room was rigged for recording, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Ellman also enjoyed his Village Vanguard debut last month as a member of Greg Osby’s band, featuring Jason Moran on piano, Drew Gress on bass, and Damion Reid on drums. Osby was burning, and a bit more rhythmically relaxed than usual, as he surveyed a range of tunes going back to 1996’s Art Forum ("Miss D’Meena"). Other highlights included the sizzling straight-eighth groove of "Equalatogram" (from Osby’s latest, Inner Circle), the eerie calm of Andrew Hill’s "Ashes" (from The Invisible Hand), and the, well, jittery feel of "Jitterbug Waltz" (from the same album). Ellman nailed the difficult heads in unison with Osby and was in peak improvising form, as was the ever-stimulating Moran. Reid and Gress zeroed in on Osby’s complex rhythmic syntax, making it dance and shimmer.

The Jazz Gallery’s Composers Series 2002 drew to a fascinating close with four Threadgill-curated evenings, each distinguished by an unprecedented pairing. First Rudresh Mahanthappa and Jason Moran co-led a quartet with Carlo DeRosa on bass and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums. Mahanthappa drew mainly from his unreleased gem The Preserver, with "Groove Band Rebellion" and the title track providing a surplus of rhythmic excitement and challenge. Moran’s pieces, culled from his debut album as well as from Black Stars, tended toward a more legato mode of expression, bringing to light a different side of Mahanthappa (and the band). A most interesting colloquy, particularly for followers of both these important musicians.

Dafnis Prieto stepped to the plate for the remainder of the series, pairing with three disparate pianist/composers — first Vijay Iyer, then Jason Lindner, and finally James Hurt. The final night unfolded a bit differently, with the enormously gifted Hurt offering a solo piano/keyboard set before turning it over to Prieto, John Benitez, and Luis Perdomo. Hurt’s ruminations were technically dazzling and practically funereal in mood; the trio’s set was very hot, and very short. One came away sensing that things hadn’t gone exactly according to plan.

On his marvelous disc Roots, Branches and Leaves (Fresh Sound), tenor saxophonist John Ellis takes Southern oral-tradition songs he learned as a child and reimagines them as jazz epics. Vocalist Bilal Oliver contributes greatly to the album’s magic, but Dean Bowman proved a highly effective sub at the Jazz Gallery, joining Aaron Goldberg on piano, Doug Weiss on bass, and Ali Jackson on drums. Not all of Ellis’s tunes have vocals; the band started with a reading of "Confirmation" in seven and a mellower piece called "Light-Headed." Then Bowman joined for a trilogy of the folklore-based pieces — lullabies, nonsense rhymes, or a combination of both. First came the triadic, rubato harmonies of "The Lonely Jesus," then the multi-part sweep of "John Brown’s Gun" and the skipping, off-kilter phrases of "Nowny Dreams." Bowman stayed on board for "Troubles of the World," a haunting, minor-key gospel benediction. Judging from the band’s capacious spirit and incredible attention to detail, Ellis got exactly what he was after. Ali Jackson, who is emerging as one of the new masters of his instrument, deserves a special nod.

Gigi Gryce just received a great posthumous honor with the publication of Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce (Berkeley Hills), by Noal Cohen and Michael Fitzgerald. Both authors were on hand at Smalls for a book signing and musical tribute by tenor saxophonist Chris Byars and his octet. The lineup: Richie Vitale on trumpet, Mike Mullins on alto saxophone, Mark Lopeman on bari, John Mosca on trombone, Sacha Perry on piano, Ari Roland on bass, Khalil Madi on drums (Danny Rosenfeld, second set). Byars, a gracious and talkative host, crafted tight arrangements of some of Gryce’s finest tunes, including "Minority," "Nica’s Tempo," "Smoke Signal," and "Social Call," the last of which was sung by guest vocalist Nellie McKay (lyrics by Jon Hendricks). The takes were concise, very much in the keeping with Gryce’s 1950s milieu, but the solos were no less powerful for their brevity. We were practically sharing the piano bench with Perry, who calmly but forcefully made his way through this great, underappreciated music.

Pete McCann is a six-string beast, with a hard, trebly attack and a rock-like intensity pervading even his most meditative moments. Leading a quartet at Cornelia Street with Jon Gordon on alto, Adam Armstrong on bass, and George Schuller on drums, McCann displayed a highly advanced harmonic sense and a joyful, go-for-broke spirit — as well as an effortless transit between inside and outside realms. He is a pleasure to hear as well as to watch, as he reels back and forth, his mouth agape in a state of perpetual tension and wonder.

Another side of McCann was on view at the Bottom Line, where he ripped it up with Gregg Bendian’s Mahavishnu Project (with Rob Thomas on violin, Steve Hunt on keyboards, Stephan Crump on bass). This fire-breathing group plays remarkably accurate renditions of all the classic Mahavishnu material. "Meeting of the Spirits" and "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" kicked off their first set. They’re more than just a cover band, however, as they revealed with their creative reworking of "Dawn," one of the MO’s most breathtaking melodies. "Hope," with its nasty, arpeggiated harmonic climb, was another highlight. Hearing this band is a great way to rediscover the greatness of these compositions.

Recommended Discs:

• Chano Dominguez, Hecho a Mano (Sunnyside)
• Keith Jarrett, Always Let Me Go (ECM)
• Pete Robbins, Centric (Telepathy)
• Terri Lyne Carrington, Jazz Is a Spirit (ACT)
• Klobas Storrs Hundemer, In the Room (Louie)
• Tim Warfield, Jazz Is… (Criss Cross)
• Marilyn Mazur, All the Birds (Stunt)
• Mat Maneri, Sustain (Thirsty Ear)
• Jerry Bergonzi, Live Gonz! (Double-Time)
• Brett Sroka, Hearsay (Fresh Sound/New Talent)