Imagine
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man all working together.
That’s what it was like when the Newport
Jazz Festival All Stars took the stage to celebrate the great festival’s 60th
anniversary at Kilbourn Hall Saturday night.
There
was trumpeter Randy Brecker, clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen,
singer Karrin Allyson, pianist Peter Martin, guitarist Mark
Whitfield, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Clarence Penn. Most
of them had led groups at the XRIJF before; now they were a
supergroup.
The
configuration varied from full band to a beautiful guitar solo by
Whitfield. Allyson performed a haunting rendition of “’Round
Midnight” accompanied only by Grenadier. Every solo was excellent;
Cohen’s and Brecker’s were outstanding.
The
highpoint of the show came midway through when Penn introduced a tune
with a riddle: What song was covered by Donna Summer, Grace Jones,
Louis Armstrong, and Pavarotti? If you haven’t guessed, it’s “La
Vie En Rose.”
The
song, written in 1945, was the perfect vehicle for a tribute to the
longevity of the Newport Festival. Cohen, who had been playing
saxophone, picked up her clarinet and blew everyone away, only to be
matched in a solo by Brecker. The result: the crowd went wild and
gave the group a rare mid-set standing ovation.
At
the end of the show, the group returned to the stage after the second
standing ovation in a loose, anything-goes frame of mind. Allyson
took over at the piano; Cohen and Martin danced. But that didn’t
stop them from making more great music.
Over
at Hatch Hall, Stephanie
Trick led an appreciative crowd through the history of piano music in the
1920’s and 1930’s. She played some boogie-woogie and ragtime and even
a samba, but the majority of her tunes were stride piano compositions
by greats such as James P. Johnson and Fats Waller.
Trick’s
technique is as fascinating to watch as it is to hear. While her left
hand was busy hopping from side to side, providing rhythm and bass,
her right hand spidered over the high keys playing intricate
melodies.
I
ended the festival at the Little Theatre with Scott
Feiner & Pandeiro Jazz. It was an unusual concert because the only percussion was provided by a pandeiro, a small Brazilian hand drum shaped like, and about as big as, a tambourine. But it could do so much more than a tambourine,
especially in the hands of Feiner.
If
you closed your eyes, you could almost hear a whole drum set. If you
opened them you saw a man continuously angling and positioning the
drum with his left hand and doing all manner of things with his right
hand to create a wide array of percussive sounds.
Feiner
had great support from two superb players, guitarist Mike Moreno and
keyboardist
Vitor Gonçalves. They played mostly evocative originals by Feiner, but ended with a
wonderful rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Big Brother.”
Looking
back over the last nine days it’s clear that the XRIJF is
Rochester’s premier event. Nothing else comes close to bringing as
many people of all ages downtown day or night.
There
is usually one standout new star at the festival (think Norah Jones
at Max at the very first festival 13 years ago). For me, this year’s
runaway star was Cecile McLorin Salvant, who played Kilbourn Hall.
But
there was no shortage of great performances. Some of my favorites
were vibraphonist Warren Wolf at Max, pianist Manuel Valera at Hatch
Hall, and the Anders Hagberg Quartet at the Lutheran Church.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2014.
Not reviewed by anyone this year, but surely one of the Festival’s most outstanding acts, was pianist Gwilym Simcock playing solo at Christ Church last night. Simcock, who is equally at home in classical and jazz, belongs on any list of the finest pianists in the world right now, and his performance was clear evidence of that. His technical sophistication, combined with an ability to penetrate to the essence of the music he is playing, resulted in a breathtaking experience for the audience, which reacted accordingly. He really needs to be in Hatch Hall, preferably with his trio.