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Old World jazz the highlight of Playboy fest
06/20/2006 1:33 AM, Reuters
Tony Gieske
A tribute to Milt
Jackson served as a counterbalance for everything that was
wrong with the 28th edition of the Playboy Jazz Festival, sold
out, scorching and sad.
Stefon Harris stood in for Bags, as the great vibraharpist
was known, and he couldn't have done better. He had many of the
departed soul master's little habits down, including swinging
from the heels, and added his own impossibly fleet licks. The
Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra spelled him, playing with their
customary verve and precision from richly inventive charts by
co-leader John Clayton and sending out such brilliant soloists
as Clay Jenkins, trumpet, and George Bohanon, trombone.
The sad part is that this is probably one of the last of
those colorful and formerly abundant beasts, the concert jazz
band.
It's not as far along the road to oblivion, though, as the
white haired Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans,
which played -- while seated -- an elegantly courteous brand of
jazz, meant for listeners, that was a refreshing but wistful
taste of fading Old World values.
Besides the Hamilton orchestra, the highlight of the two
sold-out days was getting to hear the Eddie Palmieri
Afro-Caribbean All-Stars, featuring David Sanchez on tenor and
Regina Carter on electric violin. Like Harris, these two are
burners, but they could not outmatch such Palmieri regulars as
the brilliant trumpeter Brian Lynch, who is two steps ahead of
the ordinary ear, and alto man Donald Harrison, likewise.
The soloists sailed unstoppably on with never a dull
moment, atop the clear and constant rhythm from pianist
Palmieri, who has the greatest left hand since Noro Morales,
and his brotherlike bass man, Jose Santiago, who subtly
refreshes the powerful underpinning figures before they get
monotonous.
A happy few more served loyally in the cause of jazz
authenticity. One was saxophonist Benny Golson, who made a
tasty, easygoing dish out of the long-ago ballad "Cherry."
Another loyal bunch was the Golden Striker Trio, with pianist
Mulgrew Miller, the fleet yet homespun guitarist Russell Malone
and bass titan Ron Carter. The Russian-born pianist Eldar
followed the straight-ahead line with vigor and aplomb.
Bill Cosby's Cos of Good Music starred the promising
trumpet newcomer Christian Scott, out of New Orleans. Steve
Turre played dual conch shells, and Kevin Eubanks got off his
customary super inventive, swinging guitar licks. And we
mustn't forget the hotly creative saxophonist Branford Marsalis
or the wistfully nostalgic flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione.
McCoy Tyner, looking wan, got his signature dark, deep
piano sound when he got a chance to do a whole number. But most
of the time, he supported the members of the Lula Washington
Dance Theater, an agile and erotic troupe without much jazz
provenance. The same could be said of Baaba Maal's Senegalese
dancers.
The driven Brit pianist Jamie Cullum seemed like he could
play a little jazz someday, but at the moment he is too
breathless.
Elder Edward Babb, a bar-walking, gospel-quoting, mighty
loud trombonist, is never going to be a J.J. Johnson. Neither
are the many other trombonists in his band, the McCullough Sons
of Thunder.
But at least Babb means what he says. This was not the case
with the noted singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, who brought
the Imposters along to help him out with his piano man. That
was the equally noted Allen Toussaint, a fellow producer with a
major New Orleans track record and the ability to play exactly
like Jelly Roll Morton.
The outcome, intended to benefit the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, was about what you would expect from the two
crack-shot producers: overproduced empty pieties, predictable
stuff about helping your brother and overcoming tragedy. The
band for the two stars' River in Reverse tour, just getting
started, was competent enough.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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