But, that doesn't stop Paul Lines, Executive Director of the Pasadena Jazz Institute, from bringing in a 16-piece jazz band, led by trumpeter Winston Bird, to jam at his Institute headquarters upstairs on the Colorado Terrace in Paseo Colorado.
Nor can it be said that word has gotten out that the band, being nominally called The Pasadena Jazz Orchestra, is performing each Monday night (except next Monday, Aug. 11) throughout the month. A mere handful attended the Monday night gig. There should have been more, and we suspect that the place will fill up since the 1940's to 1960's jazz style that was most prevalent in the program is so popular with those who remember the likes of John Coltrane, Count Basie and Duke Ellington to those young enough to find it cool to listen to this distinctively American music.
After a slam-bang opener with Carl Randall on tenor sax, Bird moved to “The Witching Hour" in an arrangement by Wilkins. That was followed by a Billy Strayhorn song of the Ellington era in an arrangement by Charley Harrison, well-known professor in Jazz Studies at UCLA. Bird, who is from New Jersey, offered a tune in the Count Basie style (Basie was a New Jersey native) that offered some great drumming. “Midnight in Manhattan", a new piece by the second trumpeter in the orchestra, got nice help from fellow trumpeter Sebastian Leger and Nick Paul on piano. The set closed with a wild tenor sax duel.
The second and final set in the two-hour session continued in the same musical vein as the first, but some confusion developed in signals on calling on soloists. Bird's conducting style is loose leading in a “musical sense" and giving hand signals to call for breaks and solos. Still his sense was unerring and the general camaraderie of the musicians prevailed. Bird is a trumpeter who has perfected the Maynard Ferguson style. He has received notice for his solo work with the T.S. Monk Sextet. He announced that there would be no jam session Monday, Aug. 11 as he would be travelling with the Gerald Wilson Big Band. Wilson, who is 90 years-old is a jazz legend. Lines founded the Pasadena Jazz Institute in 2000. He has been a powerful local advocate of all styles of jazz. The Institute offers a jazz camp for kids, concerts throughout the year including a seven-week series this summer on the terrace of the Pasadena Museum of California Arts.
Laid-back is how Paul Lines keeps the place. His practiced nonchalance makes the place that is really a cabaret dedicated to jazz so easy to take. I asked for the names of musicians in the band. “Nah," he replied, “there's too many of 'em." Following suit, I indicated that I would fake it. And so I have. Ever the business man, though, Lines was firm, “That's $18 for two glasses of wine."
The Pasadena Jazz Institute's Monday night jam sessions continue Aug. 18 and 25 with music starting at 8 p.m. The Pasadena Jazz Institute is located in the northwest corner, the Colorado Terrace, upstairs in Paseo Colorado, 260 E. Colorado Blvd. For information, please call (626) 398-3344.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
