THE OAKLAND JAZZ QUARTET WITH REGINA CARTER TOOK A STAB AT SOME OF JIMI HENDRIX'S BIGGEST HITS

Regina Carter

Chances are the full house at the Virgil Carr Center Saturday evening really didn’t know what to expect. Yes, Detroiter violinist Regina Carter was playing. She’s one of a handful of jazz musicians who consistently put on memorable shows. Her set at the 2014 Detroit Jazz Festival was one of its high points. This time Carter wasn't with her regular touring band, and she wasn’t performing cuts from her wonderful 2014 album “Southern Comfort” or cuts from her other albums. 

The Carr Center isn’t the best place in the world to hear music. The sound system needs upgrading. The seating is such you can barely see the musicians. Installing a small stage would be an improvement. 

Carter was at the Carr Center with the Oakland Jazz Quartet playing some of rock-n-roll icon Jimi Hendrix’s greatest hits. The program was the brainchild of Carter and the jazz bassist Miles Brown, the director of Jazz Studies at Oakland University. Brown is an exceptional jazz bassist with a bottomless imagination.  

Carter isn’t new to ambitious undertakings. She’s the only jazz musician to play the prestigious Paganini violin. In 2006, she won the MacArthur Genius Grant. She was honest with the crowd, telling them she didn’t grow up with Hendrix’s music. At times that was apparent. 

Carter performed with drummer Sean Dobbins, pianist Scott Gwinnell, percussionist Mark Stone, and Brown. For musicians unaccustomed to playing Hendrix’s music regularly, they did a fair job. 

Gwinnell and Carter did most of the arranging. The band opened with “Fire,” moved into “Ezy Rider”. Then Dobbins took the floor on “Third Stone from the Sun”. This was the most far-out number the band played. Normally, Dobbins’ drum solos stick to your ribs. This wasn’t one of his shining moments although the bulk of the crowd seemed impressed. 

Overall, the problem with the performance was neither musician seemed intimately knowledgeable of Hendrix’s songbook. You wonder how sweet this project would’ve been had the band spent more than a day or so familiarizing themselves with Hendrix’s hits. 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE, I DIG JAZZ TOP TEN JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2014

1.          Embraceable Vincent Chandler (Self-produced) Trombonist Vincent Chandler left Detroit this year to run the Jazz Studies department at Claflin University in Orangeburh, S.C. For Detroit, it was a big lost. Chandler was a top player and jazz educator on Detroit’s scene. Chandler left behind the city with an outstanding album titled “Embraceable”. The album, which features some of Detroit’s leading veterans and young players, was Chandler’s first full-length date as a session leader. Some years ago, he co-led two sessions with the great ensemble Urban Transport. “Embraceable is a gem and shows Chandler at the height of his virtuosity. Chandler composed all the tunes on the album.  The more you play this album the more you'll love it. 

2.               Improvise Sean Jones (Mack Avenue Records) This is a milestone album for trumpeter Sean Jones, marking his tenth year on Mack Avenue Records. Jones was one of the company’s first stars, and he’s consistently put out great jazz music. “Improvise” is his best to date, and it can serve as sufficient proof that all the talk about Jones being the finest jazz trumpeter of his generation is correct. Jones could blow the heat off the sun. He pulled off this exceptional date with the assistance of some of his running buddy’s pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvarie.

3.              Afro Physicist Theo Croker (DDB Records)This is the jazz trumpeter’s first record on jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater’s record label, but it isn’t his first outing has a session leader. Suffice it to say, “Afro Physicist” certainly has all the energy and the work ethic of a debut. It’s Croker’s mission statement, and should solidify him as a major player in jazz. “Afro Physicist” is a melting pot of styles, the kind of jazz album that up-and-comers like Croker are making.

4.          Road Shows Volume 3 Sonny Rollins (Doxy Records) This is the best of the “Road Show” albums, which Rollins started releasing a few years back. It’s a live date, and Rollins is in top improvisational form. “Solo Sonny” demonstrates why he’s been the reigning king of improvisation for five decades.

5.         In My Solitude Branford Marsalis (Marsalis Music) Marsalis gave his working band the night off and performed this date solo. The album was recorded live at Grace Cathedral. A cathedral is a suitable venue to accommodate Marsalis’s massive tone. The saxophonist works out on a number of well-known standards. This album feels as if Marsalis invited a bunch of people to his house to experience one of his marathon practice sessions firsthand.

6.        Midnight Melodies Cyrus Chestnut (Smoke Sessions) It isn’t too premature to call pianist Cyrus Chestnut a legend. Chestnut has the body of work to support such a distinction. “Midnight Melodies” is Chestnut’s first live album, a date he’s been plotting for years and finally got around to executing. Chestnut’s version of the Milton Jackson oldie “Bag’s Groove” is the standout here. 

7.    Manhattan Stories Charles Lloyd (Resonance Records) A live two-disc recording that Lloyd made with guitarist Gabor Szabo, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Peter La Roca Sims. It's Lloyd in his glory after he’d worked all that John Coltrane shit out of his system. Throughout Lloyd and Szabo sound like kindred spirits.

8.     Acacia Jesse Kramer (Self-produced) Kramer’s net worth is growing around the Detroit jazz scene. The youngster is in demand. And “Acacia,” his debut as a leader is the kind of hybrid jazz music he’s into currently. The music on the album isn’t straight ahead jazz, and most jazz purists wouldn't cotton to it. But, man does the music swing.

9.          The Art of Conversation Kenny Barron and Dave Holland (Impulse!) On paper, this pairing seems odd. Barron and Holland are from different points of the music. Barron is a post-bop apostle who has blessed every band he’s played in, and Dave is a central figure in both jazz fusion and free jazz. Putting them in the studio together seemed foolish, but somehow it worked. “The Art of Conversation” is one of the best jazz duo dates ever made. Barron and Holland wisely selected to perform music from their songbooks.

10.          Kayak Gary Schunk Trio featuring Peter Erskine (Detroit Music Factory) Pianist Gary Schunk knows how to make an old school jazz trio album, the variety that Oscar Peterson, Red Garland and Ray Brown used to make. Schunk was in a near fatal car accident and recovered in sufficient time to experience the success of this album, which to date is the best the upstart label Detroit Music Factory has put out. The ingredient that makes every cut on this album memorable is the superior drumming of Peter Erskine. 

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER SANG LADY DAY HITS & YULETIDE FAVES AT PARADISE JAZZ SERIES CONCERT

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater’s live shows can be R-rated at times, which her fan base enjoys because she is such a dynamic performer. Being over the top is part of her game. Friday night, at the Paradise Jazz Series in Detroit, She was tamed. She still put on a great show due largely to the young band she works with nowadays – trumpeter Theo Croker, pianist Michael King, saxophonist Irwin Hall, bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Kassa Overall.

Croker is the band’s leader. Earlier this year, he put out a fine album titled “Afro Physicist,” which Bridgewater produced. Croker runs the band, but King is its workhorse and its star. As he proved during his soloing. 

He’s a tasteful pianist who communes with the piano instead of banging it as if he's angry at it. Bridgewater seemed to be in heaven surrounded by all the testosterone.

She shared the bill with vocalist and guitarist Raul Midon, a one-man band. He can turn his voice into a brass instrument at will. During his set, it seemed as if an invisible trumpeter was on stage. He sang a handful of cuts from his current album. His set scored with the crowd. He loosened them up for Bridgewater.

Her set was tamed mostly. She did unlock her inner hoochie a few times, making sexual remarks about Eric Wheeler's big bass, and rubbing Midon’s inner thigh when he joined the band for “A Christmas Song”. 

Bridgewater sang cuts from her Grammy winning “Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959) To Billie with Love from Dee Dee Bridgewater”.

Her band stripped down and then applied new coats of varnish to Holiday’s “Lady Sings the Blues,” and “Fine and Mellow”. The band’s take of “God Bless the Child” was so touching it would’ve made Holiday weep in her grave. 

The band segued nicely into a gang of Christmas songs after Bridgewater’s nod to Holiday.

Bridgewater was a bit nervous when Croker put her on the spot calling Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”. It was Bridgewater’s first time singing it. She sight read the lyrics and brought down the house in the process.

BOB JAMES MIXED SMOOTH JAZZ & BOP WITH SOME OF HIS GREATEST HITS AT UMS CONCERT

Bob James

Jazz pianist Bob James is the king of smooth jazz. He always brings sophistication and cool to the music. There’s an element of bop to his playing also. He can stretch out on a Horace Silver number, for example, with the same aplomb as on a smooth jazz number. Those strengths were on display at his concert Saturday at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI. James played the second concert of the University Musical Society’s 2014-2015 jazz series.

The first half of the concert was heavy on smooth jazz with James’ band – guitarist Perry Hughes, drummer Harvey Mason, bassist Carlitos del Puerto and saxophonist Aaron Heick – kicking ass on some of James’ greatest hits. The band was hardcore. 

They’re adept smooth jazz musicians who know their way around pure jazz also.  Heick subbed for James’ regular saxophonist Andy Snitzer. Heick blowing had a rich bop feel. Picture how Charlie Parker would’ve sounded had he invented smooth jazz.

Hughes, a Detroiter and one of the most respected jazz guitarist on the scene, was sort of a security blanket for James who was relaxed with Hughes at his side. The star of the band was del Puerto, a monster bassist from Cuba. He’s the youngest and the most colorful member. He delivered the most exciting solos.

After the band got the crowd going, they switch to more straight-ahead jazz. James saluted the late jazz greats Horace Silver and Dave Brubeck. James’ exchange with del Puerto on Silver’s “Sister Sadie” was outrageous. On the surface, it seemed as if they were horsing around, but midway it became a serious exchange of improvisational ideas. 

James played to original tunes honoring Brubeck “Don’t Go to College” and “Follow Me”. Both had Brubeck’s trademarks such as those odd time signatures Brubeck fancied.

The crowd got a big boner when James played the theme song of the hit 80’s sitcom “Taxi”.  James is 74 and he played as if in his prime. His solos were joyous, and he successfully married straight-ahead jazz with smooth jazz. Something different for the conservative crowd who supports the UMS jazz series.

MERI SLAVEN & GARY SCHUNK HAVE STELLAR NEW ALBUMS

It’s a crying shame that a jazz vocalist who sings as divinely as Meri Slaven isn’t a household name. Sure, in Michigan, her home state, she's popular and she’s performs regularly at upscale clubs and restaurants. She’s also a key member of a hot vocal group the Metro Jazz Voices. Maybe the recent release of her new album “Get Out Of Town,” will get her the national attention she’s earned and she deserves. “Get Out Of Town” has 13 songs and she staffed the album with some top Detroit jazz musicians such as Ron English, Sean Dobbins, Paul Keller, and Scott Gwinnell. Hard to make less than a stellar album with such star power. Slaven pours her voice over well-known oldies such as “The Trouble with Me is You,” “Moonlight” and “Like a Lover”. The cuts likely to get played over and over are “A Blossom Fell,” “I Thought About You” and “True Colors” because you get to experience Slaven one on one with Gwinnell and Keller. Her voice could turn the devil into a romantic.

Gary Schunk has been an in demand jazz pianist for decades. Early this year, the Detroit jazz community almost lost him. He was in a near fatal car accident. Fortunately, he’s bounced back and is back on the scene swinging harder than ever. There’s a lot of work yet to do. First order of business is he has to push his new album “Kayak,” one of the finest jazz trio recordings made in Detroit in a while. Pure down to the bone jazz, akin to the classic trio dates great jazz pianist such as Red Garland and Tommy Flanagan used to make. “Kayak” is the sixth album on the Detroit Music Factory. Schunk is at the top of his game, which isn’t surprising. There’s never been a time when he wasn’t. As some of his peers have noted over the years he's gifted and he can play everything R&B, classical, bop, Latin, and swing. Fronting a trio, as the album clearly proves, is his true calling. There are 12 cuts on “Kayak” that Schunk, drummer Peter Erskine, and bassist Ray Parker approach with the adherence to craftsmanship of master tailors.

DIANNE REEVES' PARADISE JAZZ SERIES CONCERT WAS HEAVY ON SCATTING, STORY TELLING, LIGHT ON SINGING

Dianne Reeves

The jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves’ concerts are hit or miss. When she’s on point, her concerts are something to behold. When she has an off night, you feel letdown as if she didn’t give her all. She has one of the best voices in jazz, and her scatting rivals any of the great jazz vocalists of any era. Friday night at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Reeves played the first concert of the 2014-2015 Paradise Jazz Series.

Reeves scatted a hell of a lot, which is often heavenly when she does so in moderation. She’s a natural born storyteller. The thing is the stories haven’t changed over the years. You wish she’d update them, or better yet spend more time singing.

During the second set Friday, for example, Reeves was chatty, particularly when gushing about actor George Clooney who hired her for the movie “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and talking about her aunt fooling a group of vegetarians at a family cookout by lacing their vegetables with bacon grease.

The first set smoked thanks to Reeves’ band – pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist James Genus, guitarist Romero Lubambo, and drummer Terreon Gully – The band is tighter than pricey dress shoes, and they supported her like four big brothers.

Clayton is the new member. It was his second show with the band. He’s a young buck and he’s made quite a name for himself. As a session leader, he’s released three excellent albums, and he showed his knack for backing a world-class jazz vocalists throughout the concert.

The band warmed the stage for Reeves, opening with the standard “Summertime”. Then she floated on stage, scatted her way through the second song, which didn’t have words. At the end of it, she tacked on an amusing story about attending a Stella Cruz concert in L.A. back in the day. Reeves likes to include amusing stories in the middle or at the end of songs.

Reeves is a wiz at improvising. She does it as skillfully as a horn player. That was on full display when trumpeter Terence Blanchard joined the band for a seductive take of “Stormy Weather”.  

Note for note, she matched Blanchard. At one point, it seemed as if they were making love musically on stage. The concert could’ve ended after that number with the audience satisfied she’d given them a good show.

But the concert carried on. And Reeves sang less and talked more. The audience didn’t mind though. However, when you pay to hear a top jazz vocalist, you want the vocalist to at least sing for 90% of the concert.  

GREGORY PORTER OPENED THE 2014-2015 UMS JAZZ SERIES WITH A NEAR FLAWLESS CONCERT

Gregory Porter

No doubt, Gregory Porter is the top male vocalist in jazz right now. His 2012 album “Be Good” put him on the map, and his follow up “Liquid Spirit” earned him a Grammy. He caught many jazz fans off-guard when he hit the scene about five years ago. Jazz has male vocalists of all makes and models, but none as dynamic or as grassroots as Porter.

Wednesday evening at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Porter opened the University Musical Society 2014-2015 jazz series with a near flawless two-hour set. Porter and his band – saxophonist Yosuke Sato, pianist Chip Crawford, bassist Jahmal Nichols, and drummer Emanuel Harrold – performed cuts from Porter’s albums “Water,” “Be Good” and “Liquid Spirit”. The two-hour set was heavy on music from the latter album.

Porter’s band came out first. Right off, they got chummy with the melody of “Painted On Canvass,” one of the best cuts from “Be Good”. Then Porter walked out. He was only a handful of choruses into the song before the crowd lost their ever-loving minds. He’s a vocalist capable of singing R&B, blues, and jazz with equal aplomb.

Porter has a lot of stagecraft. All concert long, he had the crowd geeked, and yelling the title of songs they wanted him to sing. At times, he had the swagger of a country preacher, especially when he belted “No Dying Here” and “Be Good”. Porter is big on crowd participation also. Often during the set, the crowd was working and singing harder than Porter.

The night’s most endearing moment was Porter’s duet with pianist Chip Crawford on “Imitation of Life”.  Porter’s voice melted over the lyrics. His band is capable for the most part, and he allowed them more leeway than any band backing vocalists should get.

Saxophonist Yosuke Sato was all over the map. He has the stage presents of a smooth jazz saxophonist, heavy on long soloing and grandstanding. Yes, he sounded good, but there wasn’t much meaning to his solos.  He seemed to recycle the same note during one long solo after the other.

At first, his solos were engaging and they got the crowd psyched. But roughly four songs into the set the long soloing became annoying. Crawford was guilty of the same sin. To Sato's and Crawford's credit, the audience was engrossed. 

Sato and Crawford were definitely showboating. It appeared as if they were competing with Porter. Porter encouraged the behavior. So not only is Porter a freakishly awesome vocalist he's also a generous  and a liberal bandleader.