Lawrence B. Johnson
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.
