The art of the duo personified

The jazz duo is the ultimate musical challenge. With just two musicians on stage, there is no coasting allowed. You're either doubling on the melody, listening intently to anticipate how to respond to the other player's solo, comping behind him -- or all of the above.

Dick Hyman, Diego Figueiredo

That fine art was in the spotlight at the 42nd edition of the Sarasota Jazz Festival on Friday, March 17 in the hands of pianist Dick Hyman and Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo. 

Their musical conversation belied their half-century age gap. NEA Jazz Master Hyman turned 96 last week. Figueiredo, a rising star on his instrument, is just 42.

It was a call-and-response set from the get-go as they explored a wide range of Brazilian and Cuban material, with a few American standards sprinkled in for good measure. At every turn, they found common ground through the music itself.

Diego Figueiredo

"The Color of Brazil" and "So Danca Samba" led to a playful take on "All The Things You Are," with Figueiredo filling behind Hyman's lead. Whether he is popping off blistering solos or comping, the Brazilian draws on his wonderful combination of finger pick-style jazz and classical guitar techniques, sometimes adding a bit of body English for emphasis.

After digging in to Antonio Carlos Jobim's bossa nova classic "Wave," the festival's new musical director, Terell Stafford, joined them on flugelhorn for an extended exploration of Jobim's "Triste." 

Then came a solo tune apiece by the two co-stars. Hyman uncorked a teasing-at-times, bouncy and bright version of "Cherokee" that included a clever Stride piano segment. Figueiredo used his solo space to explore "Tico-Tico No Fubá," one of the high-energy Brazilian features in his repertoire. Zequinha de Abreu wrote this Brazilian choro in 1917. 

Dick Hyman

Because it happened to be St. Patrick's Day, Hyman included "Danny Boy" in the program. This gentler moment was a chance to catch one's breath before the fiery closer. Together, they roared through Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona's Latin classic "Malaguena."

Hyman, a prolific pianist, organist, composer, arranger, bandleader, composer of film scores and orchestral works in a career dating to the late 1940s, is a master of the keyboard. He mixes sparking delicacy with uptempo fluidity, exploring multiple styles with ease.

Dick Hyman, Diego Figueiredo

He played the first Sarasota Jazz Festival back in 1981 and has been the event's most frequent performer. At first a snowbird, he has lived in nearby Venice full-time for more than 25 years. At 96 and not wanting to travel extensively anymore, this may have been one of his last significant performances. But you never know.

This year's festival, produced by the Jazz Club of Sarasota, was held under the Circus Arts Conservatory's Big Top at Nathan Benderson Park. 

The festival's other headliners included singers Kurt Elling (with guitarist Charlie Hunter), and Lizz Wright, pianist Christian Sands, bassist Marcus Miller, reed player Paquito D'Rivera, B-3 player Tony Monaco, tenor saxophonist Houston Person and the more-contemporary Allen Carmen Project with Gumbi Ortiz.

Dick Hyman, Diego Figueiredo, Terell Stafford

Pasquale Grasso visits the other Naples

Italian guitarist Pasquale Grasso grew up in the mountain town of Ariano Irpino, just 49 miles  northeast of the nearest major city, Naples. He's been playing guitar since age 4 and has developed a jazz- and classical-influenced mastery of his chosen instrument that is something to behold.

That talent brought him to another Naples, in southwest Florida, on Wednesday, February 10 for a concert showcasing his swinging artistry. He was special guest with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra as part of the sextet's All That Jazz series at Artis-Naples.

Pasquale Grasso

Guitar players were not the primary musical influence on young Grasso, who grew up in a southern Italy household that loved jazz. He was inspired by the sound of bebop pianists, including Bud Powell, Elmo Hope and Barry Harris. He won the Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition in 2015, just three years after moving to New York City, where he has enjoyed a busy career as a performer and educator. Pat Metheny, a jazz guitar god for many, is one of Grasso's biggest fans.

Now 32, Grasso shows a command of his instrument well beyond his age. His warm sound, complex harmonic lines, dexterity and improvisational skills blend into a masterful musicality.

Figueiredo delights in two musical contexts

Diego Figueiredo

Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo brought his acoustic guitar and deep musical savvy to Port Charlotte FL on Monday, March 9 in his first visit to the Charlotte County Jazz Society stage. He delivered mightily in two different contexts: a solo guitar set and a closing set in a swinging trio.

Figueiredo, 39, blended Brazilian, Latin and standard fare with ease throughout the night. There were several sambas, a few of Antonio Carlos Jobim's classic bossa novas and even the most famous Brazilian waltz, Dilermande Reis' "If She was Asks." 

Everything he chose to play was imbued with eye-popping technique delivered with his finger-pick style that combines melody and bass lines, and percussive accents from his left hand sliding down the fret board. His right hand is something else, with his extra-long fingernails being the picks.

An all-star evening in every respect

Guitarist Peter Bernstein teamed with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra on Wednesday, December 18 for a program that illuminated his all-star strengths as a player, improviser and composer.

Peter Bernstein

The concert, part of the sextet's All That Jazz series at Artis-Naples' Daniels Pavilion, took a different tack than usual. In this case, it focused on some of Bernstein's many fine originals. Two chestnuts from the bebop canon were added for good measure.

The sextet includes tenor saxophonist, arranger and musical director Lew Del Gatto (who spent 25 years in NBC's Saturday Night Live Band), trumpeter Dan Miller, violinist Glenn Basham, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey. 

In the holiday spirit - part 2

Nate Najar's Jazz Holiday merrymakers rolled into Sarasota on Friday evening, December 14, for a South County Jazz Club concert at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center.

Nate Najar

The quintet, pared down from a septet on Thursday in St. Petersburg, included Najar on acoustic, finger-picked guitar, reed player Adrian Cunningham, trumpeter James Suggs, bassist John Lamb and drummer Mark Feinman.

The concert fare was quite similar to the show the night before. The intimacy of the 200-seat Glenridge, the superb acoustics and lighting enhanced the fine show. 

Here are some favorite images:

Adrian Cunningham, James Suggs

Mark Feinman

John Lamb

Nate Najar, John Lamb

James Suggs

Lamb, Cunningham

Adrian Cunningham

Najar, Cunningham, Lamb, Suggs, Feinman

In the holiday spirit, jazz style.

Guitarist Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday has become a seasonal tradition in Southwest Florida. He started the concert in St. Petersburg, where the 13^th annual edition was held last night at The Palladium Theater's Hough Hall.

Ex-Ellington bassist John Lamb, drummer Mark Feinman and trumpet marvel James Suggs are regulars in this event, with Nate drawing on an array of visiting talent to expand the group. 

This year's special guests were tenor saxophonist/clarinetist/flutist and singer Adrian Cunningham, an Aussie jazz musician now based in New York, and alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky, a Russian-born musician now living in Paris. Brazilian singer Daniela Soledade, who recently moved to the Tampa Bay area, joined the band for several numbers.

The evening coursed between holiday fare, jazz chestnuts and bossa novas. My favorites included the band's take on "Mistletoe and Holly," first recorded in 1957 by its co-writer, Frank Sinatra, and their idyllic version of Gil Evans arrangement of Claude Thornhill's theme, "Snowfall."

Nate brings the holiday cheer to Sarasota tonight, without Baevsky in the lineup. This concert at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center, is sponsored by the South County Jazz Club. This will be at least the sixth year he has done this event in Sarasota.

Here are a few images from Thursday's fine event, which drew a crowd of about 500.

Lamb, Najar, Feinman, Cunningham, Baevsky, Suggs

Baevsky, Suggs

Adrian Cunningham 

Daniela Soledade, Adrian Cunningham 

Lamb, Najar, Cunningham 

Najar, Lamb, Cunningham, Baevsky

Guitar mastery on full display for jazz fans

Diego Figueiredo's Brazilian guitar artistry will make your jaw drop. His nylon-stringed acoustic guitar is merely the vessel for astonishing sounds that come out of his musical psyche, delivered by unusual blends of technique.

A jazz event 50+ years in the making...

To say it was long overdue is an understatement. Joshua Breakstone and Don Mopsick grew up in Linden. NJ. Their families knew each other and sometimes hung out together back in the 1960s, long before either man had any designs on a career in music.

Joshua Breakstone

Guitar modernist Breakstone and Mopsick, best known as the bassist in Jim Cullum's Jazz Band for more than 18 years, performed together for the first time on Friday,. February 17 at a South County Jazz Club matinee concert at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice.

Jazz guitar mastery and heartfelt moments

Guitarist Larry Coryell, Russell Malone and Nate Najar teamed up Thursday, January 19 for an evening that showcased their individual styles and common ground as players. The concert, billed as the Great Guitars of Jazz, was held at the Venice (FL) Performing Arts Center.

Reaching out to casual jazz listeners

Guitarist and singer Tony Boffa has an easy-going way of drawing listeners to jazz, whether they realize it - or not.

Tony Boffa

While he was working in the Portland, Maine area as a music educator for many years, he also had his own in-demand band that played weddings and jazz gigs dating to the mid-1970s. Since retiring to southwest Florida in 2014, Boffa, 65, has been playing jazz exclusively, but drawing on his immense repertoire to build a musical bridge for casual listeners.

He's the Saturday night headliner at JD's Bistro in Port Charlotte FL, an upscale gourmet restaurant that features jazz six nights a week. It has an atmosphere rivaling the finest New York City supper clubs. He also performs on Fridays at the Roadhouse Cafe in Fort Myers.

You'll hear a few jazz chestnuts or standards from the Great American Songbook - rarely repeated from week to week or even month to month. Scattered among them, and just as prevalent, are songs drawn from the pop, rock and blues repertoires.

Mac Chrupcala, Tony Boffa

Examples? A couple of Saturdays ago, Boffa included the Harry Belafonte hit "Jamaica Farewell," Delbert McClinton's "Got To Get It Worked On" and two classic TV theme songs: one from "I Love Lucy" and "Those Were The Days" from "All in the Family."

Listeners are familiar with the original versions, but have never heard them in this context - arranged as jazz instrumentals and featuring extended, improvised solos. Even the members of his backing trio have never played a lot of these gems in a jazz context before. 

That concept keeps the band fresh and lively in the same way that Boffa has made jazz more accessible and interesting for a wide range of listeners. He delivers his music with an engaging but not overbearing vocal style, and excellent mainstream guitar chops. And the band stretches out mightily.

Bravo.

Celebrating the rhythmic essence and varieties of tropical jazz

Since departing the New York jazz scene more than 25 years ago, guitarist Steve Uscher has immersed himself in what he calls tropical jazz - the varied but often-sultry music originating in Argentina, Brazil and Cuba, as well as a few other Caribbean locales. After his Big Apple days working on Broadway shows, in jazz clubs and backing vocal headliners, he moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands and spent five years playing jazz, calypso and reggae on the resort hotel circuit. 

Steve Uscher

For the past 20 years or so, he's been based in Naples, FL, where he and singer-percussionist Winnie Purple perform as a duo three to five nights a week at the Ritz Carlton's Lobby Bar. A few times a year, when schedule and opportunities permit, Uscher assembles his full-blown Tropical Jazz Group. He brought its latest version to the Charlotte County Jazz Society's concert series on February 8 in his first CCJS appearance since 2008.

Papo Valentin

Besides Uscher and Purple, the band included trumpeter Dan Miller, the inventive percussionist Edwin "Papo" Valentin,  bassist Daniel Navarro and drummer Darrell Nutt. While Uscher and Purple have a fine rapport from working together so frequently, the added instrumental firepower revealed a sextet bubbling with energy and invention. 

Uscher's wide-ranging techniques and mastery of the acoustic guitar always are something to savor. Over two long sets, the music ranged between exotic and romantic, sultry and cool, whether they were playing Latin American material or adding a Latin tinge to familiar jazz tunes and popular songbook material. It was a night peppered with exotic rhythms, including bolero, bossa nova, cha cha, mambo and tango, as well as the samba-like afoxe propelling Dori Caymmi's "Obsession."

Winnie Purple

Uscher and Purple performed two tunes each set as a duo. They included Baden Powell's "Berimbao," the exquisite Dizzy Gillespie ballad "Con Alma," a Latin take on Henry Mancini's "Moon River" and an exotic tango, "Kiss of Fire."


Other gems included a Latinized version of Blue Mitchell's "Fungi Mama," two bossas - Ivan Lins' "Velas Icadas" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "The Girl from Ipanema," Clare Fischer's "Morning," and a fine pairing of Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (the hallmark piece from Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain project) with Chick Corea's "Spain." Other treats: a cha cha version of Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" and the high-energy closer, "Mambo Yoyo."

Dan Miller

Purple added many percussion touches all night and was equally charming whether singing in English, Portuguese or Spanish. Miller, a Harry Connick Jr. and Maynard Ferguson alumnus, added his soulful trumpet sound and some stunning extended high notes as needed. He was featured on "Cherokee" and the ballad "My One and Only Love," which the band performed as a bolero. 

Navarro, Uscher, Purple

 Navarro may have felt like he was under a microscope, sharing the stage with two of his music teachers (Uscher and Miller) - and his mother (Purple). Navarro and Uscher were locked into a deep groove all, and the bassist also blended well  with the three percussion players. The percussionists complemented each other, adding both energy and subtle accents to the Tropical Jazz Group sound.

Valentin, Nutt, Navarro, Uscher, Purple, Miller

A guitar master's take on jazz - It's about much so more than the music

Pat Martino

Guitarist Pat Martino quickly set the tone with a blistering revisit of the boppish "Lean Years" at his concert Wednesday, February 4 with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. "Lean Years," which first appeared on Martino's 1967 Prestige album Strings!, remains one of his signature tunes. 

The program also included two other Martino originals ("Inside Out" and 1974's "On The Stairs"), and a half-dozen covers of jazz standards that the Philadelphia native has recorded over the years. Those included Dave Brubeck's beautiful ballad "In Your Own Sweet Way," John Coltrane's "Impressions" and the Charlie Christian-Benny Goodman burner "Seven Come Eleven."

Special jazz moments, all night long

Larry Coryell

Guitarist Larry Coryell is a musical force unto himself, but when he gets to converse with other musicians, the results can border on magical. Such was the case Saturday, January 17 when the jazz-rock veteran, now more comfortably digging into standard fare, performed in the South County Jazz Club series at Sarasota's Glenridge Performing Arts Center.

Guitar trio digs into jazz and blues

Andre Roy

Toronto-based guitarist Andre Roy, who winters in southwest Florida. closed out the Englewood Art Center portion of the South County Jazz Club's 2013-14 season this afternoon with a terrific trio concert.

The matinee performance marked first-time concert appearances by three contemporary players: Roy, bassist Billy Pillucere and drummer James Varnado. What a tight performance in their first gig together. It also was Roy's first U.S. concert appearance.

Klaus Bader's jazz digs deeply into the swing tenor tradition

Klaus Bader

The South County Jazz Club's matinee series took on an international flavor at the Venice Art Center in Venice FL with an appearance by tenor saxophonist Klaus Bader. He flew in for Friday's gig from his native Germany, along with guitarist Peter Starkmann. The quintet also included three Southwest Florida musicians - pianist Johnny Varro, bassist Don Mopsick and drummer Tony Martin.