Duke
Ellington's impact on jazz seems beyond measure, no matter how you
count it. He wrote, co-wrote or took credit for writing more than
1,000 compositions over a 50-year span. According to one family bio,
it was more than 3,000 songs.
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Dan Miller
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The
numbers really don't matter as much as the imprint Duke left on the
music. That's what the Dan Miller-Lew Del Gatto sextet celebrated
in their Charlotte County Jazz Society concert appearance on Monday,
January 10. They dug into the joy and legacy as they delved into a
wide emotional range of material from Ellington and collaborator
Billy Strayhorn, plus a few other gems from Duke's band book.
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Lew Del Gatto
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In
addition to his fiery playing, trumpeter Miller, a walking archive of
jazz details, shared many of the back stories behind the 16 favorite
tunes the band performed. Co-leader Del Gatto, a 30-year alum of the
NBC Saturday Night Live Band, was an excellent foil with his
to-the-point, but always gorgeous and inventive, tenor sax solos.
Their
all-star band was rounded out by longtime Big Apple pianist Roy
Gerson, trombonist Herb Bruce, bassist Brandon Robertson and drummer
Tony Vigilante. Bruce's wife, the fine singer Patricia Dean, better
known as a drummer in some performance settings, joined for three
tunes.
