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| Saxophonist Rafael Leafar |
For some time now, the talk around
Detroit's jazz scene has been the multi-saxophonist, and the 2020 Kresge Fellow Rafael
Leafar has what it takes to be the next James Carter and Kenny Garrett, two
globally revered Detroit-born musicians. The talk has merit. Leafar is a hugely
gifted musician who's clearly invested considerable time studying Carter's and
Garrett's discography, techniques, stage mannerisms, and theatrics. For
example, Garrett's swaying back and forth when he's in the throes of a planet-shaking
solo and Carter’s crowd-dazzling cadenzas whenever the mood hits him. Those influences were obvious Saturday
night at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café during Leafar's closing set of a four-night
run. I've experienced Leafar's exceptional playing as a sideman on pianist
Glenn Tucker's album "Determination" and drummer Alex White's album "Ubuntu."
On those projects, Leafar's blowing stuck to my ribs for days. And Leafar’s
soloing during trombonist Vincent Chandler's concert in 2020 at the Charles H.
Wright Museum of African-American History had tenor saxophone God's jealous. However,
Saturday night, I couldn't make sense of the music his group--drummer Alex White,
bassist Josef Deas, and guitarist Sasha Kashperko--played. The music appeared to
be all made up on the spot. Leafar bounced from the tenor sax to the electric
piano, piano back to the tenor sax. The group, I kid you not, played
for 90 minutes straight without coming up for air. Maybe, the music would've
been easier to digest had Leafar taken a moment to explain his concept. Many
people in the capacity audience appeared perplexed, and others flat out
disinterested. In all the years I've reviewed, concerts at the Dirty Dog
Lafear's was the most experimental and out of place, given historically, the
Dirty Dog has only offered straight-ahead acoustic jazz.
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