Mack
Avenue SuperBand's Live From The Detroit Jazz Festival - 2013 documents a
concert at the Motor City's capacious Hart Plaza by an ensemble of leaders
culled from Mack Avenue Records' extraordinary artist roster. It's the second
configuration of the group, which debuted at the 2012 Detroit Jazz Festival,
mixing veteran stars with mid-career leaders and up-and-comers. The resulting
album, Live From The Detroit Jazz Festival - 2012, received critical kudos for
the fiery chemistry and soloistic derring-do contained therein.
Back for
round two are trumpeter Sean Jones, guitarist Evan Perri, and the rhythm
section of pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist (and music director) Rodney Whitaker
and drummer Carl Allen, plus Gary Burton returns as a special guest. Joining
the mix are veteran soul/jazz saxophone giant Kirk Whalum and the sensational
vibraphonist-marimbist Warren Wolf. The results are scintillating-a program as
cohesive and precise as a studio recording, but infused with energetic
vibrations emanating from the several thousand hip, enthusiastic fans who
attended the concert.
Whitaker
attributes the simpatico in part to his process of following collective,
inclusive principles in organizing the program. "I solicited everyone's
input," he says. "With artists at this level, you don't need to
dictate every moment. Sometimes it's more important to listen and facilitate.
When you have a conversation with everyone about what music we're playing and
the direction we want to go, everybody buys in."
Whitaker
discerns several common denominators that promoted camaraderie. One is the role
of gospel music in the musical development of Whalum, Jones, Wolf, Diehl, Allen
and himself during formative years. "Everyone-not just those who grew up
in church-tries to tell a story in the way they play, in the way they try to
touch an audience and say something to them," he says. "They put
together their solos to get across a message that music is not just about
notes, but has some greater meaning, whatever you may translate that to
mean."
That
communicative quality permeates the proceedings. So does the high level of
mutual respect of each member for the musical abilities of all the others.
"Everyone liked performing together," Whitaker says. "You could
feel it in the rehearsals. Everyone felt empowered. There was no hierarchy, no
one playing the star. In 2012, the idea was more to have a showcase for
everyone's skill, and have people come on and off the bandstand. This year, Al
and Denny wanted a more cohesive sound, and that's how all the musicians felt,
too."
"Soul
Sister," featuring vibraphonist/composer Warren Wolf, kicks off the set in
fine fashion. The mid-tempo modal piece finds the composer elegantly stating
the melody on his signature vibraphone then passing off to the marimba for a
sure-footed and hard-swinging solo, opening the door for rhapsodic solos by
label mates Whalum, Jones, Perri and Diehl.
Sean
Jones, 35, is celebrating his tenth anniversary on Mack Avenue with his new
release, im.pro.vise, later this summer. He uncorks a sensitive flugelhorn solo
on his never-before-recorded "Of Mars and Venus," followed by
Whalum's flute solo. There follows a stirring rendition of Donnie McClurkin's
"Speak To My Heart" (reprised from Work To Do, the Allen-Whitaker
group's second Mack Avenue date), on which Jones, Wolf and Whalum raise a
joyful noise.
The
horns and guitar leave the stage for Aaron Diehl's "Blue Nude" (from
the 28-year-old pianist's Mack Avenue debut, The Bespoke Man's Narrative),
which opens with a mysterious, sensuous section that resolves into a minor
blues theme-think John Lewis meets Sonny Clark-on which Wolf and the pianist
stretch out.
Gary
Burton's pair of Mack Avenue dates with The New Gary Burton Quartet (Common
Ground, 2011 and Guided Tour, 2013) is as strong as anything in the iconic
mallet player's distinguished discography. He and Jones rejoin the quartet for
"Chick's Tune," an early Chick Corea opus (it blends "You
Stepped Out Of A Dream" and "Nostalgia") that debuted on a 1964
Blue Mitchell LP titled The Thing To Do. Each soloist displays his command of
swinging change-playing over the relentless groove.
There
follows a duo tour de force by Burton (vibes) and Wolf (marimba) on Wolf's
arrangement of Corea's "Señor Mouse," which Burton first played with
the composer in 1972 on the ECM classic Crystal Silence, and which Wolf
recorded for his self-titled 2011 Mack Avenue debut.
Burton
exits and Whalum enters as the band takes on Allen's "Relativity," a
modernist soul jazz tune with a feel not unlike Oliver Nelson's "Stolen
Moments." Jones builds his clarion solo on principles of
tension-and-release; Whalum flows through the changes with mellow, powerful
tone; Wolf navigates the beats with a drummer's precision.
Diehl's
Ellingtonian chords introduce gypsy jazz innovator Django Reinhardt's
late-period piece "Troublant Bolero," on which Perri showcases his
abundant chops, as he does with the Django/Stephane Grappelli-inspired Hot Club
of Detroit, who have released four albums on Mack Avenue.
Kirk
Whalum and the septet then address the modern gospel song, "I Want Jesus
To Walk With Me," which Whalum previously recorded on his 2001 album,
Hymns In The Garden. In the classic soul tenor manner that he learned from
mentor Arnett Cobb as a student in Houston, Texas, Whalum offers inflamed
testimony, followed by a marimba solo by Wolf that sustains and intensifies the
energy.
Spurred
by Allen's crisp, rounded beats, each member takes an idiomatic, white-hot
chorus on the concert closer, Dizzy Gillespie's bebop era anthem, "Two
Bass Hit," with Burton on vibes and Wolf on marimba.
When
it's done, you the listener may well feel inspired to follow the example of the
packed Hart Plaza and deliver your own standing ovation.
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