Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

ACS Jazz Trio - Tribute at Newport

My first experience seeing jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding was at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2011, after she had won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. This year, she was booked as part of the jazz trio Allen, Carrington and Spalding. Christian McBride, musical director for the festival, introduced the group and noted that the pianist Geri Allen had died about a month ago. However, the group wanted to play anyway as a tribute to her. To complete the trio, three pianists had agreed to sit in, beginning with Christian Sands, who had just finished playing a set with Christian McBride's Big Band.

On the first song, Esperanza began by singing a high pitched aria and then added her upright bass. Terri Lyne Carrington added polyrhythmic drum parts to drive the music forward. During Spalding's solo, her singing and bass felt like a single well honed unit, the bass driving the bottom and her vocals soaring high above, and all the while interacting with the pushes and prods of the other musicians.  This version of the band hit its stride on the second song, which was high speed, straight ahead jazz. Carrington propelled the group forward and added flourishes which reminded me of Elvin Jones. In this setting, Sands played in a more free flowing style than I seen when he was playing in the big band. The communication among the musicians was wonderful here, but begged the question of how it would have sounded if Allen had been there to add her own unique piano sounds.    

Here's a view of Spalding and Carrington with Christian Sands in the piano chair.  

After the third song, Sands left and Carrington offered some heartfelt words about how much they had enjoyed playing with Geri Allen and how they were offering this day's music as a tribute.  

The next pianist to join was Vijay Iyer, fresh off a set played with his own sextet. Piano is an amazingly versatile instrument and Vijay took it to different places. His flowing lines reminded me of the work of Chick Corea and Hiromi.  On this song, the structure reminded me of the Steve Swallow song Falling Grace, particularly when Esperanza was soloing over the passing chords and warm major key sounds. Here's a shot with Vijay.  

The group played a mix of standards and Allen's own compositions. On The Drumming Song, written by Allen, pianist Jason Moran joined the group. This song had a stark, spare beginning, before evolving into a ballad. Moran played precise flowing arpeggios, leaving space for Esperanza's bass lines and exquisite brush work from Carrington. Moran seemed the most comfortable of the pianists in this unusual context. His playing was supportive and also added color to the alchemy produced by the duo of Spalding and Carrington. Here's another shot of them in action.  

Before they finished, Esperanza talked about the ACS band and how they had wanted to play the standards within a trio format. She added that Allen's own compositions fit well and were standards in a sense. She again emphasized that this was a tribute, not just a set of all star jazz trios. The crowd sounded restless and she said, "we've got more for you."  

On the final song, all three pianists took turns. Early in the song, Esperanza cut loose on a fast-paced bebop solo and then segued into a melodic line as Christian Sands jumped back in. At this point, it felt like something special was happening. The music was clearly unrehearsed, but replete with energy. Sands stepped aside and Vijay re-joined with his much more vertical piano style.  In response, Spalding simplified her bass lines and Carrington banged out fills on her toms. As she shifted to her ride cymbal, Moran   took his turn and brought the music back to a bright melodic feel. Here's the trio with Moran playing.  

At the end, Esperanza chanted "Thank You, Geri" several times in succession with high energy, reaffirming that what we had just seen was a tribute and made possible by the music and spirit of Ms. Allen, not to mention all of these wonderful musicians. This peformance was one of my favorite moments in the years that I've attended Newport Jazz.  Thanks so much to all of the musicians for this special tribute.  

 

 

Notes on Newport Jazz - 2017

This year's excursion to the Newport Jazz Festival started with rain, but the skies eventually cleared and the great music of the day prevailed. The ride in was faster than usual, likely owing to the clouds overhead and a mixed forecast. Equipped with an umbrella, LL Bean rain jacket, a foldup chair and small pack, I rode the bus from the upper lot to the entrance. After a quick check through security, I got my program and headed to the main stage area and picked out a spot to the right about 150 feet back.  I checked the program and decided my next stop would be the Quad Stage, where a special show called Jazz 100 was just beginning.  

The seats by the Quad Stage were filled, so I skirted to the left. Rivulets of water scattered off of the tent's edge, but the music had begun. Jazz 100 featured an ensemble hand-picked by bandleader and pianist Danilo Perez and celebrated the music of Dizzy, Ella, Mongo & Monk.  The front line was fabulous: Chris Potter on saxophones, Avishai Cohen on trumpet and Josh Roseman on trombone. As I arrived Cohen played some melodic lines over a latin beat. A little while later, Potter took over. He played a powerful solo with echoes of Coltrane on tenor sax and the band drove hard behind him. The sound shifted to percussion. Roman Diaz stood behind an array of congas and other drums, laid down a Cuban jazz beat on his congas and accompanied them with energetic vocals in Spanish. At one point, drummer Adam Cruz joined him and overlaid cymbal work and Perez also jumped in to help  Eventually Cruz and Perez returned to their own instruments to restate the song's melody and bring it to a close. Perez followed with an angular solo piece dedicated to Thelonius Monk.  Next was the classic song Afro Blue. Here the rhythm section built a strong foundation between the drummers and bassist Ben Street, then sparse piano notes segued into the song. Josh Roseman led the front line on this one, then Cohen and Potter filled in harmonies on the melody ala the hard bop Blue Note sound of the late Fifties.  Here is what the band looked like at work (Perez is hidden by one of the many umbrellas):  

One treat was to hear Potter playing much of the time on soprano sax. Potter's tenor lines ripple through the history of jazz with nods to bebop, Dexter Gordon and more, but his soprano work is more ethereal and had sweet tones that reminded me of Wayne Shorter's best work on the instrument. As the band's music drew to a close, Potter's high notes floated above us all.  

I returned to the main area, formally called the Fort Stage.  The next band up was Christian McBride's big band.

McBride was a busy guy on this day. He's recently become the musical director for the festival, but here he was out front as the band leader.  The band has a huge brassy sound coupled with a healthy dose of funk. It was fun to see a bassist (McBride) leading the band and the material dipped deep into the music of jazz greats who'd influenced him including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and George Duke.  On Black Narcissus (by Henderson), saxophonist Ron Blake played a fine sax solo and was backed by Christian Sands on the piano. Next, McBride introduced a special guest, Warren Wolf on vibes. Wolf added another dimension to the band with his highly percussive approach to vibes and also filled out the bottom with ringing tones.  The last part of the song was very effective as Wolf laid the foundation and the tight horn section punched out its lines on a Cedar Walton tune.  McBride had a large band, but gave all of the musicians a chance to shine with lots of solos and tight ensemble work. The band put on a great show and had me smiling by the time they closed it out. And the rain had stopped and was over for the day.   

I'll write another post on Newport to talk about a special tribute that took place later that Saturday afternoon.