DWIGHT ADAMS QUARTET OPENS WJZZ’S CONNOISSEUR CONCERT SERIES AT THE RADISSON-SOUTHFIELD

Trumpeter Dwight Adams

In recent years, Detroit’s jazz scene has produced several praiseworthy concert series. The most prominent has been the Detroit Jazz Preservation Concert Series, founded by jazz educator and trombonist Vincent Chandler, which has honored departed Detroit legends like Geri Allen, Donald Walden, Curtis Fuller, Betty Carter, and Harold McKinney. This year, it expanded its reach to include active swingers like saxophonists Kasan Belgrave and Marcus Elliot. The series recently ended its third consecutive year of exceptional programming. DJPCS set a high bar for any emerging new series. On Friday evening at the Radisson in Southfield, MI, a new series, the WJZZ Connoisseur Concert Series, debuted. Rodger Penzabene, Jr., president of WJZZ, started the jazz concert series and chose trumpeter Dwight Adams’s Quartet for the opening concert. Adams, one of Detroit’s most enduring jazz stars, delivered the best jazz concert I’ve attended this year. Adams’s quartet—drummer Andre Wright, pianist Bob Mervak, and bassist Jeff Pedraz—opened the 90-minute set with Horace Silver’s “Barbara” before moving into Lee Morgan’s “Mr. Kenyatta.” By the end of the second selection, the musicians were sweating like union laborers. To give them a breather, Adams called the ballad “Angel Eyes,” which shifted the attention to Mervak’s vocals, and he proved to be not only a versatile jazz pianist but also a fine singer. Mervak’s voice was smooth as patent leather. After the ballad, the quartet returned to its deep-swinging. Adams was clearly the star, though Pedraz and Wright delivered goosebump-inducing solos the entire set. Wright’s chops are akin to the late jazz drummer Pete La Roca in both decisiveness and taste. Like La Roca, Wright understands a jazz drummer’s first job is to keep time, and he managed that responsibility all night without the showboating common among other jazz drummers. As for Adams’s trumpet playing, there is little left to say that I haven’t already said over the decades I’ve known him. He is one of the last jazz musicians of the 1990s with an instantly recognizable sound. Within a few choruses in the upper register of his horn, any seasoned Detroit jazz listener would know it’s Adams’s voice. After the concert, attorney and avid jazz devotee Mark Brown told me that Adams is a complete soloist whose improvisations have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Adams knows how to tell a story through his solos. That was evident when he waltzed with the changes of “The Last Minute.” Every moment of the concert qualified as a highlight, especially the arresting guest appearance by flutist James Russell, who sat in for one tune. The quartet also performed Adams’s original “The Last Minute,” repurposed Benny Golson’s “Blue Walk,” and closed with Freddie Hubbard’s “Mr. Clean.” For the encore, Adams once again cast the zoom lens on Mervak, who thrilled the full house with a jazzy take of Erykah Badu’s “I’ll See You Next Lifetime.” The WJZZ Connoisseur Concert Series clearly met the high standard set by the Detroit Jazz Preservation Concert Series, and Adams raised expectations even further for the jazz bands Penzabene Jr. has lined up next. Also worth mentioning is that many of the jazz fans who attend the DJPCS were in attendance. Unfortunately, Penzabene Jr. announced the date of the next concert but did not reveal who the band is. 

THE XAVIER DAVIS NEW YORK JAZZ QUARTET OPENS THE MIDTOWN JAZZ CRAWL AT THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS.

 

Pianist Xavier Davis

The Midtown Jazz Crawl, presented by the Carr Center, exemplifies the organization’s commitment to outstanding jazz programming. The first event in 2022 featured top jazz musicians, including Tia Fuller, Camelle Thurman, Keyon Harrold, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Jazzmeia Horn. Due to budget reductions, this year's crawl—taking place at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Historical Museum, and the Cathedral of St. Paul—is less star-heavy compared to its debut. Nevertheless, the opening performance by the Xavier Davis Quartet on Friday evening in the Rivera Court at the Detroit Institute of Arts was exceptional. The quartet performed material from his discography and from the works of well-regarded Detroit icons such as Pepper Adams and Tommy Flanagan. Davis introduced saxophonist Greg Tardy, drummer Quincy Davis, and bassist Vincente Archer by joking that he might call the group the Professors of Jazz, as each member teaches at a prominent university. Davis himself is a Jazz Piano professor at Michigan State University. The 90-minute performance felt like a graduate seminar exploring every nook and cranny of acoustic jazz. No fanfare or unnecessary grandstanding—just four adult jazz musicians cooking. This jazz quartet is about as excellent as you could hope for in a straight-ahead. group. Davis never clarified when the band got together or how long they had been performing as a group. If I had to guess, I would say as long as established other powerhouse jazz outfits like the Branford Marsalis Quartet and the James Carter Trio. Davis opened with "Plan Unknown” from his first album. Tardy, who established a solid reputation in the late 1990s alongside notable musicians such as Roy Hargrove, Mark Shim, Christian McBride, and Jason Moran, truly made an impact several choruses in, wolfing down the chord changes like snack cakes. Tardy’s tone was arresting but never too aggressive, which perfectly fits Davis’s sophisticated and thoughtful brand of piano playing. It’s so pleasing to hear a jazz pianist like Davis treat the piano with such care and reverence, as do pianists Kenny Barron and Eric Reed. Davis never whips and bangs the piano like some nut working out his aggression. On “Quiet Corner” and “Dance of Life,” Davis’s fingers melt over the keys. He surrounds himself with like-minded chops like his brother Quincy Davis, an undemonstrative drummer who never gets in the way or attempts to divert the audience’s attention to himself. Midway through the set, Davis confessed that he struggles with assembling setlists. I found that hard to believe, given the unified beauty of each composition the quartet performed.