JAZZ PIANIST AARON DIEHL'S TRIO MOVES SEAMLESSLY FROM BACH TO BEBOP AT THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY'S CONCERT SERIES

Pianist Aaron Diehl

Listening to the jazz pianist Aaron Diehl's performance Friday evening at Rackham Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I couldn't help marveling over how damn immaculate and erudite his playing is. Diehl performed a spotless hour-plus concert with his trio, transitioning seamlessly from music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, and Bud Powell. I felt like I was gifted two arresting performances for the admission of one, with Diehl immediately establishing there were similarities in the great musician's reach and virtuosity Diehl performed Bach's work solo and the jazz compositions with bassist David Wong and drummer Aaron Kimmel. Kimmel is one of the more clever and tasteful trio drummers I've heard, and Wong has the science of walking the upright bass down pat. Diehl has a pristine household reputation, having won the prestigious American Pianist Association 2011 Cole Porter Fellowship, toured internationally with the Grammy-winning vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, and released three touted albums for Mack Avenue Records. Diehl opened Friday's concert with Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in C Major, slid into Miles Davis's "Deception," revisited  "Prelude and Fugue" but this time served it at room temperature in c minor, and then sprung into Dizzy Gillespie's "Bebop." Balancing the genres could've been disastrous in the hands of a less skilled jazz pianist and a less adept jazz trio. But Diehl pulled it off. He told the near-capacity audience the impetus to pair Bach and Bop struck him during the pandemic lockdown. He's test-driven the project in several cities recently. As the concert wore on, his interpretation of music became more captivating. After the intermission, the trio tore Chick Corea's "Tones for Joan's Bones" open like a birthday gift. On Bud Powell's "Tempus Fugue-It," Diehl's fingers raced up and down the keys as if Powell's ghost possessed them. The audience gifted Diehl, Wong, and Kimmel with an ovation that lasted longer than I've ever witnessed at a University Musical Society jazz concert. Had the trio not obliged the audience with an encore,  there was a high probability the audience wouldn't have let the musicians leave Rackham in one piece.

SAXOPHONIST RAVI COLTRANE’S TRIBUTE CONCERT FOR HIS PARENTS DIDN’T FEEL MUCH LIKE ONE

Ravi Coltrane

 Over a decade ago, I interviewed the saxophonist Ravi Coltrane for the weekly newspaper the Metro Times. Coltrane, back then, was established with several solid records on the market and a stint with the great Elvin Jones on his resume’. During our talk, I asked Coltrane why he hadn’t recorded his parent’s music, particularly his father’s John Coltrane. Ravi said he had the utmost respect for their music and that the best way to honor their legacies was never to emulate them. Sunday evening at the Paradise Jazz Series in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall, as I listened to Ravi’s band play some of his parent's signature compositions, I wondered what made him change his mind about dealing with their works. The concert was a double bill featuring vocalist Thana Alexa. Ravi’s set was billed as a tribute to John and Alice Coltrane, but It didn’t come off much like one. Ravi's set began late because the pianist Cyrus Chestnut was a last-minute addition. The series organizers invited Chestnut back to perform a 30-minute set to make up for his concert in December being interrupted by some mentally ill bigot who shouted a racial slur. Chestnut returning to perform four compositions didn’t make sense. He rushed through the set as if he didn’t want to be there. Ravi hit the stage at 10:00 pm after an esoteric set from Alexa. Ravi never talked much about his parents or gave any historical information about what inspired their music or if he had a seminal connection to the compositions his band performed. His blowing on“Turiya and Ramakrishna” and “Er Ra” was celestial and on, “Ole’” and “Wise One” Ravi's sounded worldly and aggressive. I attribute the concert’s highlights to the terrific harpist Brandee Younger. During her solos, Younger seemed hellbent on channeling Alice Coltrane’s spirit. Overall, the tribute came off as if Ravi didn’t have a vested interest in his parent's music.