THE PARADISE JAZZ SERIES REOPENS WITH A LIVELY SET FROM BRIAN BLADE & THE FELLOWSHIP BAND

Brian Blade &The Fellowship Band

Seventeen months have passed since the Paradise Jazz Series has put on a live concert. The series returned Friday evening with a memorable set from Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band. The 90-minute set was live-streamed and only available in-person to a limited number of people. Blade is no stranger to the series, having performed there with the Wayne Shorter Quartet and the Chick Corea Trio. Blade is one of the more spirited jazz drummers working. Most know him for his stints with Joshua Redman, Shorter, Corea, and Joni Mitchell. Blade is also a valued bandleader who kept the Fellowship Band running for 24 years. Friday’s night set at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall reaffirmed, for me, his band is unlike any other in jazz I’ve heard. They played cuts from their Blue Note recordings, opening the concert with “Return of the Prodigal Son,” penned by pianist Jon Cowherd. All but one selection Cowherd wrote. Throughout the concert, the band had two identities. Starting out mellow, and midway through a number morphing into a band that straddled the fence of the avant-garde. Saxophonists Myron Walden and Melvin Bulter stood out. Walden wolfed down the changes to “Landmarks,” and “Traveling Mercy like mini-pastries. “The best parts of the concert were Blades improvisational exchanges with Bulter on “Throwing Stones,” and with Cowherd on “Duality. They were the launching pads for Blade’s missile-like rimshots and his goosebump-inducing solos.