Detroit Int. Jazz Festival blog

Blazing concerto premiere caps the festival

The big festival ended on a grand scale, with the premiere of bassist John Clayton's "concerto grosso" for the Clayton Brothers Quintet pitted against the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra.

The winner was the audience, which was treated to a dazzling display of technical finesse and sheer sonic brilliance from both the large ensemble and the small.

Clayton calls his new work, commissioned by the festival, "T.H.E. Family, Detroit." The initials stand for the three brothers of one of Detroit's most distinguished jazz families -- Thad, Hank and Elvin Jones. Thad and Elvin, both deceased, played trumpet and drums, respectively. Hank, 91, appeared with his trio at the festival on Friday night.

Clayton's tribute, running about 30 minutes, plays out in three continuous sections. The first is a fire-balling, brass-laden remembrance of Thad Jones. The slow, almost hymnal middle section honors Hank. And the lights-out finale recalls the supercharged drumming of Elvin Jones.

Indeed, near the work's end, Clayton Quintet drummer Obed Calvaire delivered a stormy, electrifying solo that turned into a duet with the Gwinnell band's drummer, Scott Kretzer. A hardy crowd that had endured the day's intermittent rain rewarded Clayton's grand concerto with a vocal standing ovation.

The Carolyn Striho-Rayse Biggs Project

The Carolyn Striho-Rayse Biggs Project show on the Mack Avenue Pyramid stage had to wait as trumpeter Rayse Biggs, surely one of the most in-demand players at the festival, rushed over from his gig with McKinfolks, on the Absopure Waterfront stage.

It was worth the wait for Biggs, as always, and for the project. I've seen Striho over the years, but until today, not this phase of her varied career. One of the joys of Jazzfest is being able to catch up on a lot of music at once, in one sprawling place. One of the tragedies is not being able to be in several places at one time.

Emcee John Penney, who starts a new WRCJ jazz show Saturday (7-9 p.m. on 90.9 FM), did his usual thoughtful job of describing music.

Speaking of the boundary-defying music the rock/punk singer/poet and the jazz trumpeter make, Penney said, "Is there jazz in it? Yes. Does it fit into a box? No."

Particularly fine was "Wade in the Water," which seemed to invite the rain to start coming down at around 3:30, and Striho's bluesy vocals on "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."

The ultimate in concert notes

I saw an amazing thing this afternoon. A reporter colleague -- let him remain anonymous -- isn't on duty but took copious and complete notes on each show he saw.

When I asked if he knew the name of Harold McKinney's brother, who was up onstage with McKinfolks at the Absopure stage -- I'd only darted in for a few numbers -- he pulled out a small notebook like mine with detailed names, notes and songs.

Kiane Ziwadi, of course, is the name of McKinney's brother.

Why the notes? My colleague keeps a jazz "life list," of every concert he's seen, much as people keep a list of every bird they've seen.

During the McKinfolks set, Ziwadi said his brother Harold was nationally renowned, but "he didn't spend enough time in New York" to be as well-known as he deserved.

Ziwadi also said, "Thank you for naming a street after my brother."

I stuck around as McKinfolks did a wonderful rendition of Harold McKinney's "Ode to Africa," then split for another stage.

Watching Ziwadi along with Gayelynn McKinney on drums, it's wonderful to think about the musical lineage that goes back to one of Detroit's first and finest jazz bands, McKinney's Cottonpickers.

Three basses score a big hit

Even amid the festival's barrage of smile-inducing performances by a bunch of great jazz musicians, the three-of-a-kind program by bassists John Clayton, Christian McBride and Rodney Whitaker was a special delight.

If you think a gathering of bassists would be a sort of musical growling session, you shoulda been there. It's amazing just how high the old upright can sing. And in the hands of these three dudes, the basses became a jazz string trio expressive of wit, elegance, lyrical flights and head-spinning rhythms.

Much of the program played out in pairs: McBride plucking an accompaniment to Clayton's deeply wistful reading of "My Funny Valentine," McBride and Whitaker trading virtuosic riffs through "In a Mellow Tone."

But when the three took the stage together, the result was a multilayered treat. A piece called "Much in Common" found the threesome playing a virtuoso game of "top that." Take it from the pin-drop quiet crowd: Nobody could have topped this.

You might call it a three-bass hit. Actually it was an inside the park home run.

Daniels' clarinet charms a rain-damp crowd

At a festival rife with tributes to jazz families and jazz greats, clarinetist Eddie Daniels managed something special Monday afternoon at the Carhartt Amphitheatre. He mesmerized a rain-pummeled crowd in a tribute to Benny Goodman with the Wayne State University Big Band.

Daniels, perhaps unsurpassed among clarinetists today, didn't exactly study at the knee of the immortal Benny Goodman. In fact, Daniels recalls meeting him just once. But he surely has that swinging style down. Small wonder several hundred listeners, many of them shielded by umbrellas and many more huddled within marginal earshot out of the rain, stuck around to the end.

In the easy swing of "Stompin' at the Savoy" and the gentle caress of "Autumn in New York," Daniels drew out his warm tone in liquid phrases. But then he caught another feature of Benny Goodman's fabled musicianship. In a parody of Goodman's pulsing romp "Sing, Sing, Sing" that Daniels calls "Sing, Sang, Sung," the dampened Carhartt bowl rocked to the blend of Daniels' swooping clarinet and the driving sound of WSU's super band.

Rain? What rain?

The all-new Sheila Jordan, version 80.5

Vocalist Sheila Jordan is, as she announced from the Absopure Waterfront Stage during her set with the Tad Weed Trio, "80 and a half." You would never, ever guess.

Sure, the top notes can be a bit dicey, but the phrasing is so savvy, the improv so unexpected, the middle voice so good that even after Jordan has owned up to her very senior status, it's hard to believe this singer is 80 and a half.

Jordan kicked off her set, played mostly in light rain, with a perky turn through "Humdrum Blues." She then angled her way into Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean" with a vamp that served as a brief autobiography for those who might not know: that she was born in Detroit, went to Cass

Tech and had a life-changing moment the first time she heard Charlie Parker on the radio.

Jordan played the crowd with infectious verve. She explained she was about to sing "Lady Be Good," a tune identified with Ella Fitzgerald, slowly -- very slowly -- because only Ella, "the first lady of song and the first lady of jazz," could sing it fast.

To that charming number she added a likewise leisurely stroll through Vernon Duke's "Autumn in New York." She asked if it was raining out there. "Yes!" came the chorused answer. But nobody was moving. This was too much fun, too fine, to let a little sprinkle get in the way.

The music stops, the crowd goes...for ice cream

What is a jazz festival when there's no music? You might call it a murmur fest.

It was just an odd stretch Monday afternoon when bands were setting up, sound checks were being run and no performance had actually started. Under overcast skies, the crowd milled and waited, some claiming seats early for whatever was to come while others sought out ice cream cones or huge gyros sandwiches piled into funneled pita wraps.

The mid-afternoon forecast was for possible rain, but skies didn't look especially threatening and festival patrons were dressed for sun and heat. The music forecast surely was more reliable: Great stuff coming throughout the rest of the day. It was just a matter of waiting for the jazz to start up again at this jazz festival.

All-stars all day, and all free

The 2009 festival has been great fun and filled with phenomenally rewarding music. That it's entirely free is quite amazing. The weather has been ideal and the crowds large, mellow and involved.

One more well-packed day remains. If you decide to join the throng, here are several promising destinations:

* The blues-gospel flavors of pianist Johnny O'Neal. Noon at the Absopure Stage.

* Vocalist Sheila Jordan and pianist Tad Weed. 3 p.m. on the Absopure Stage.

* Clarinetist Eddie Daniels with the Wayne State University Big Band in a Benny Goodman tribute. 4:15 p.m. at the Carhartt Amphitheatre.

* Guitarist John Pizzarelli's Quartet with his father and fellow guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli as special guest. 5:15 p.m. on the Absopure Stage.

* Bottoms Up! A summit of stellar bassists John Clayton, Christian McBride and Rodney Whitaker. 6 p.m. at the Mack Avenue Pyramid Stage.

* Monk on Monk. Drummer T. S. Monk revisits music written by his father, the legendary pianist Thelonious Monk, with several different small groups. 7:30 p.m. at the Absopure Stage.

* Finale: The world premiere of a work for jazz quintet and big band by the festivals artist in residence, John Clayton. Featuring the Clayton Brothers Quintet and the Scott Gwinnell Big Band. 8:30 p.m. at the Carhartt Amphitheatre.

New Festival Orchestra makes an upbeat bow

A bountiful day at the festival wound up Sunday night in a freshening breeze and an exhilarating debut. On display at the Carhartt Stage was the newly minted Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra under the direction of Basie Band veteran Dennis Wilson.

Give it a couple of years, Wilson has said, and this assemblage of top Detroit jazz musicians will cook. It sounded pretty tight coming out of the gate in a program laced with blazing Basie classics and a notably sweet performance of Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born."

The band also spotlighted guest vocalist Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer as well as the imperishable saxophonist Jimmy Heath.

Siegle immediately showed her smart way of stretching and meshing lyrics with phrases in a lively take on "The Tender Trap." Among other high points were a scat, a la Ella Fitzgerald, through "Like Love" and a wonderfully reflective version of Sarah Vaughn's "I Have Waited So Long."

Heath, 82, sounded still very much in command of tone and phrase, especially in an expansive turn through "Fools Rush In."

On a long ride with Wayne Shorter

To play jazz music, its practitioners like to say, is to tell a story. If that's so, then saxophonist Wayne Shorter's "Joy Ryder" is a history, a personal journey recalled and examined and transmogrified into a magical epic in sound.

Shorter and his quartet have recorded "Joy Ryder," in a version that runs about 11 minutes. That wouldn't even give you the table of contents of the story this foursome unfolded Sunday night before several thousand rapt listeners at the Carhartt Stage. This telling rolled on for well over an hour.

In its atonal language, episodic structure, complex rhythms and overarching melodic lines, this virtually unbounded discourse was vividly reminiscent of tenor sax giant John Coltrane. And it must be said right here that whatever Shorter's vast audience may have expected to hear, they drank in the magnum opus they got with evident engagement and glee.

As if to mark off chapters, Shorter intermittently switch from tenor sax to soprano, thus shifting mood and color from darkly introspective musings on the former instrument to keen-edged wailing on the latter; and each change brought a wave of applause.

The audience was with him â€" indeed, with the whole experience, which extended well beyond the saxophonist to the bumptious rhythms and sometimes unbridled cacophony of his sidemen: pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade.

Jazz as a story? This was jazz as an adventure, a wild, unpredictable, heady and delicious ride.