SAXOPHONIST KENNY GARRETT'S MUSIC GETS A STAR TREATMENT AT THE DETROIT JAZZ PRESERVATION CONCERT SERIES

 

Saxophonist Kenny Garrett

Sunday afternoon, when trombonist Vincent Chandler, the founder of the Detroit Jazz Preservation Concert Series, told the crowd at Schaver Music Recital Hall that the concert celebrating saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s music was the second-to-last in the series this season, there was a collective sigh. Their disappointment showed how important the jazz series had become in just two short years. I bet most who showed up wished Chandler could find money to keep the series going year-round. No one knows if he will, but I pray that he does. Sunday’s nod to Garrett was another well-plotted set with a strong lineup of saxophonists Rafael Leafar and De’Sean Jones, drummer Sean Dobbins, bassist Josef Deas, and pianist Roger Jones II. I never knew Garrett was such an outstanding composer. Chandler was smart in choosing to steer the frontline with Leafar and Jones. During the early stage of Leafar’s career, he sounded like Garrett and even swayed back and forth during solos. Listening to Leafar blow up and down Sunday afternoon, I felt he had finally come into his own. Leafar and Jones had their horns honking, screaming, and squealing with such raw force that Chandler should have warned the crowd before the set started to protect their ears. Mine were burning midway through the set. Chandler enjoys scat singing when the spirit hits him. I am not a fan of scatting. However, he always manages to sound damn good. He started “Happy People,” which Garrett usually ends his concerts with, by scatting and drawing the crowd in, but was overshadowed when Jones and Leafar began trading measures. Garrett is all fire, and Jones and Leafar captured that side of his blowing well. Dobbins was the motor pushing the saxophonists to great improvisational depths. At the end of the set, Dobbins probably had to soak his drumsticks in Epson salt to reduce the swelling, given the workout he put them through. I wondered though why Chandler did not choose a heavy-handed piano player, as Garrett likes that type. Jones II is a sharp pianist with chops suited for a trio but never matched the bombs the saxophonists dropped. The sighs heard at the start of the set were replaced with applause as the band moved through Garrett’s “Wayne’s Thang,” “Wooden Steps,” and “Sing a Song of Song.” Give Chandler a pat on the back for giving Jones and Leafar the room to stick and jab. Of the concerts put on so far, this one should have been recorded for future nationwide release.