billbeuttler.com

January 1, 1970

Three Globe jazz pieces this week: a review of MacArthur "genius" Ken Vandermark today, another of Harry Connick Jr. yesterday, and a profile of bass great Ron Carter, also in Friday's paper.

Happy 4th!

* * * * *

Vandermark 5 delivers a stylish set

By Bill Beuttler, Globe Correspondent  |  July 3, 2004

CAMBRIDGE — Ken Vandermark, a 1999 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" recipient, ambled onto the Zeitgeist stage Thursday night and begged forgiveness for his lived-in-looking green T-shirt and gray shorts. "I apologize for the way I'm dressed," he said. "I have no clean clothes left."

Vandermark, 39, a native of Boston's western suburbs, was back in town two nights shy of wrapping up a three-week tour with his group Vandermark 5 in support of their adventurous new CD, "Elements of Syle, Exercises in Surprise," and returning to his adopted home of Chicago. His audience, a packed house of what looked to be a mix of 20-somethings, 50-somethings, and remarkably little in between, didn't seem to mind his sartorial shortcomings.

Vandermark, after all, has in recent years contributed much to leading Chicago to the very front of the jazz avant-garde, and his horn-dominated V5 ensemble — Vandermark, reeds; Dave Rempis, alto and tenor sax; Jeb Bishop, trombone; Kent Kessler, bass; Tim Daisy, drums — is a large part of the reason why.

The music they played Thursday dressed out quite nicely, the horns picking up some of the accompaniment duties more traditionally handled by piano or guitar. They opened with "Vehicle," which featured solos by Bishop, Vandermark on baritone sax, Rempis on tenor, tight unison horn parts, and Kessler and Daisy demonstrating Vandermark's willingness to infuse free jazz with rock and funk rhythms.

Next up was "Strata," from the new disc, which Vandermark began on clarinet and Rempis on alto. Daisy got a solo on this one, which started out slowly, built to something more energetic, and led into a frenzied Vandermark solo on tenor, with Bishop's muted trombone adding accents beneath the leader.

A medley of two Rahsaan Roland Kirk tunes — "Silverization" and "Volunteer Slavery" — followed, Vandermark noting that the two make up a bonus track on certain copies of "Elements of Style." A loping, bluesy melody opened the piece, Vandermark and Rempis now on bass clarinet and tenor, respectively, and after a relatively traditional-sounding trombone solo, the second, funkier melody was picked up — first by Vandermark (now on tenor) and Kessler, then by Rempis and Bishop, and finally by all four of them.

Vandermark ended the piece with one of his better solos of the set, combining soulfulness and Albert Ayler-esque high notes on his tenor, and it all added up to something rare indeed: avant-garde jazz that could actually tempt people to dance.

A new ballad called "Chance" followed, featuring Kessler's only solo of the set. "Cruz Campo," from the group's 2003 disc "Airports for Light," wrapped things up with vigorous solos from each of the three horns that left no doubt about it: These guys played a whole lot sharper than they dressed.

Vandermark 5
At: Zeitgeist, first set, Thursday 

© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
 
* * * * *

Connick plays the entertainer expertly

By Bill Beuttler, Globe Correspondent  |  July 2, 2004

Harry Connick Jr. wowed the crowd at FleetBoston Pavilion Wednesday night with a two-hour set mixing selections from "Only You," his most recent CD; blasts from the past; sharp big-band and small-combo instrumentalism; and ample helpings of his considerable gifts as an entertainer.

Even the sourpusses who knock Connick for singing too much like Sinatra and being a more middling pianist than advertised probably would have had a good time.

Connick came out in an untucked dark blue shirt and blue jeans and belted out a couple of numbers with his big band roaring in precision behind him. He then took a seat at the piano and played an intro with his rhythm mates — Neal Caine on bass and Winard Harper on drums — that segued into "All of Me," the big band kicking in as Connick began singing.

It took a few more tunes to get around to cuts from the new disc, which turned out to be "You Don't Know Me" and "For Once in My Life," both taken at slow, ballad-like tempos and featuring Connick piano solos.

Connick followed those up with a lengthy, rollicking, New Orleans-inflected instrumental solo that included a snippet of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and his beating out the rhythm by banging his right foot and hands on the piano.

More standout, good-time musicianship followed via Ned Goold's alto solo on "People Will Say We're in Love" and what might have been the highlight of the set: Connick's three-song duet interlude with trombonist Lucien Barbarin.

Connick and Barbarin began their set-within-a-set with a moving version of the gospel hymn "The Old Rugged Cross," with Barbarin offering a gorgeous muted solo. They moved on to an instrumental jam that began with stride piano from Connick and eventually added, one by one and in various combinations, Caine on bass, Harper on drums, and three more trombonists. They wrapped things up with a playful version of the usually mournful "St. James Infirmary," Barbarin mugging glances up toward heaven and down toward the other place as Connick sang the line about a departed lover being "wherever she may be."

Later in the set, Jerry Weldon took a pair of brief tenor sax solos on "Save the Last Dance for Me," and Boston native (and birthday boy) Geoff Burke was featured on alto sax on the title track.

What's not to like about all that? Connick proved once again that genuine musicianship and a willingness to entertain needn't be mutually exclusive.

Harry Connick Jr.
At: FleetBoston Pavilion, Wednesday night 

© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

* * * * *
 
Sticking to his beloved bass, Carter keeps jazz scene fresh

By Bill Beuttler, Globe Correspondent  |  July 2, 2004

Ron Carter might get a bit wistful as he brings his quartet to the Duffin Theatre in Lenox for performances tonight and tomorrow night. The great jazz bassist originally intended to become a classical cellist, and Lenox is, of course, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Still, Carter hasn't done too badly on the bass. The 67-year-old achieved fame as a member of Miles Davis's great 1960s quintet, has performed on countless albums as a first-call New York session player (his website estimates 2,500), and has led assorted ensembles of his own on disc and in performance since the late 1970s.

But all that might not have happened had the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski not snubbed him for an orchestra slot in 1959. At the time, Carter was a student at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. He already had switched from cello to bass at his Detroit high school, to take advantage of the graduation of the school orchestra's only bass player. But he found it difficult to get serious consideration for his bass playing at Eastman.

"They would have auditions for orchestras," Carter recalls on the phone from New York, "but they wouldn't post them until they had already taken place. And then one of the conductors, Stokowski, told me he'd love to have me in his orchestra — at the time he was down there in Houston, I think — but said the Houston board directors weren't ready for a `colored guy' playing classical music."

That was the last straw for Carter, who refocused his attention on jazz. "I would have been one of the best classical bass players there ever was," says Carter, a boast backed up by two of his releases, "Brandenburg Concerto" (1996) and last year's chamber-like trio disc, "The Golden Striker."

Instead, Carter went to the Manhattan School of Music for a master's degree and to sideman gigs with Chico Hamilton, Cannonball Adderley, and others. He was playing with Art Farmer when Davis dropped by one night in 1963 and hired him to replace Paul Chambers in what would become Davis's second legendary quintet, this one rounded out by Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Tony Williams on drums.

That band revolutionized jazz with its rhythm section's freewheeling approach to time. Carter remembers the new rhythmic concepts having been brought to Davis by his young sidemen — Carter and Hancock were in their twenties and Williams in his late teens initially — more than the other way around. "We'd talk about it after the gig or between sets," Carter says, "to discuss what almost happened, or try to remember what happened from the previous night, to set up that kind of idea for the next night."

Carter was the first to leave the quintet, doing so in 1968 to capitalize on New York's then-thriving studio scene. "I'd been traveling real hard for five years," he explains, "not only with [Davis's quintet] but with other bands, and the New York recording scene was alive and well. I thought that I could stay in New York, resume private teaching, and then pick up enough recording sessions and working around town to make earning a living on the road not so essential anymore."

Finding enough recording sessions proved easier than expected, especially those early years. "It was not a problem to go every day to the studio and make a different record," says Carter. "I mean, the possibilities of recording this music in the past 50 years, up 'til three, four years ago, were overwhelming."

A bit trickier was getting club owners and record executives to go for the idea of a bassist leading his own combo, particularly with his bass serving as the group's lead instrument. Fellow bassists such as Dave Holland and the late Charles Mingus have sidestepped the problem by having horns in their front lines. But Carter has stubbornly eschewed horns and vibes in both his Latin-tinged quartet (Stephen Scott on piano, Steve Kroon on percussion, and Payton Crossley on drums) and his other bands, keeping his bass front and center.

Which isn't to say Carter hogs the spotlight with bass solos. "One of the things that pleases me most," he says, "is when I can make a soloist — whoever he or she is, on whatever instrument they're playing — not play what they've played in their house. I call it a `kitchen solo.' My job is to make them think and play differently when I'm playing with them."

"He's constantly changing things around," says Kroon, who has been with Carter since 1986. "He feels that's the way of keeping the music fresh, and keeping you fresh, too."

Keeping things fresh for Carter is an invitation to perform with the quartet in Boston on July 25 as part of the Democratic National Convention festivities. Carter views the appearance as a two-way endorsement — his own of "the Democratic platform" and the party's of "recognizable jazz."

"It's just nice to know," he deadpans, "that someone in the Democratic Party knows that musicians other than Kenny G are available to play."

Ron Carter’s quartet is at the Duffin Theatre, 197 East St., Lenox, tonight and tomorrow night at 8. Tickets are $35 in advance, $39 at the door. Call 800-594-8499.
 
© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company