THE JOEY CALDERAZZO TRIO'S PERFORMANCE WAS THE ICING ON A BANNER SEASON FOR THE DETROIT GROOVE SOCIETY HOUSE CONCERTS SERIES

Pianist Joey Calderazzo

The founder of the Detroit Groove Society house concerts series, Andrew Rothman, gifted the supporters of the series with 100 minutes of high echelon jazz music courtesy of the Joey Calderazzo Trio. Saturday night, the trio closed the DGS’s 2016 season. Ranked by some series regular's as the DGS’s best season yet. Veteran jazz promoter Skip Norris—who’s co-produced some of the DGS’s concerts—commented before introducing Calderazzo’s trio that Rothman has figured out a new way for lovers of jazz to experience live jazz. The DGS’s 2016 season had memorable concerts by trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, vibist Joe Locke, and pianist Dan Tepfer. The Joey Calderazzo Trio presentation was the icing on a banner season. The tips of Claderazzo’s fingers were still smoking from his sets Friday night at the Jazz Café in Detroit. Claderazzo’s had to same bandmates bassist Ben Wolfe, and drummer Donald Edwards. The entire concert the trio went back and forth from unadulterated burners to heart melting tunes such as “Hope,” an original Calderazzo wrote for the late great saxophonist Michael Brecker. Calderazzo made his name in Brecker’s band.  Now Calderazzo is best known as the heart of the Branford Marsalis Quartet. And as a session leader, Calderazzo has put out 13 albums as a bandleader. Calderazzo is a very physical and sometimes animated jazz pianist as he showed tune after tune Saturday night. Calderazzo played every popular branch of jazz under the sun. The house was shaking when the trio played the first two tunes. I overheard the guy seated in front of me tell his companion he believed the curtains were going to catch fire during Calderazzo’s soloing on “Cheek to Cheek,” and “To Wisdom The Prize. There was the requisite twenty-minute intermission not to, it seemed, to give the musicians a break, but rather to give the house piano a breather. If there was one downside to an otherwise terrific concert it was Wolfe and Edwards also globally respected bandleaders didn't get an equal share of the spotlight. Calderazzo was on fire and Wolfe, and Edwards had their hands full.