Sarasota Jazz Festival is well underway

The main stage portion of the 39th annual Sarasota Jazz Festival opened Wednesday night with a new location, a relaxed flavor and fine music from event newcomers and old hands. 

The festival has moved from the Riverview High School Performing Arts Center to the hotel ballroom and function rooms of the waterside Hyatt Regency Hotel, bringing more of a weekend jazz party atmosphere and informality to the concert vibe.

With its Generations of Jazz theme, the 2019 event is offering a blend of longtime festival favorites, as well as younger talents, many of them previously unheard by Sarasota audiences.

Music Director and reed player Ken Peplowski showcased dynamic young singer Charles Turner and trumpeter James Suggs on Wednesday, and will add saxophonists Roxy Coss and Aaron Johnson at Friday and Saturday shows. 

Ken Peplowski, Charles Turner

 
Turner, winner of the recent Duke Ellington Vocal Competition, divides his time between New York and Paris. His gifted chops were a treat on jazz classics (the Joe Williams hit "More Than Likely," "Skylark" and "Honeysuckle Rose") and originals ("When You're in Love" and "Ooh La La"), with Peplowski joining him on the latter tune. Tonally, he reminds me a lot of singer Andy Bey.

John O'Leary, Houston Person

Tenor saxophonist Houston Person closed the first set with "Only Trust Your Heart," a Benny Carter classic that reinforced the festival frequent visitor's ballad mastery, "Easy Living" and Illinois Jacquet's "Black Velvet."

Randy Brecker

Suggs was at last year's festival - as a listener. This night, he led off the second set, which became trumpet trifecta. He performed three tunes from his recently released debut CD You're Gonna Hear From Me (Arbors): Duke Ellington's "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream," the Soft Winds' "Detour Ahead" and one gorgeous original. The infectious New Orleans shuffle beat from drummer Mark Feinman on "My Baby Kinda Sweet" from set the tone on this gem. 

Four tunes from headliner Randy Brecker ("Have You Met Miss Jones?," Freddie Hubbard's "Up Jumped Spring," "I Can't Get Started" and "What Is This Thing Called Love?") revealed his immense chops and artistry. He's still going strong at age 73, also blessed with an engaging sense of humor and camaraderie.

Suggs, Brecker, Sandke

Then Suggs and Randy Sandke, who moved last summer from New York to nearby Venice, joined Brecker for the rousing finale, performing "There is No Greater Love" and the Miles Davis-penned burner "Donna Lee." They traded solos and seamlessly blended horn lines in ways that seemed to astonish each other - and keep them on their toes. It was a winning trifecta.

The main stage concerts' tight rhythm section for the Hyatt Regency concerts is the Tampa Bay area's La Lucha band with pianist John O'Leary, bassist Alejandro Arenas and drummer Feinman. The festival runs through Saturday night. 

Friday and Saturday afternoon events include four smaller blues, classic jazz, contemporary and Latin stages with a wide range of artists, including guitarist Gene Bertoncini, clarinetist Allen Vache, blues singer Betty Fox and pianist Joe Delaney's Latin band.

Updating a classic format

Trumpeter Dan Miller and tenor saxophonist Lew Del Gatto usually perform in a quartet format at their weekly Thursday night gigs at The Barrel Room at Twisted Vine Bistro in downtown Fort Myers, FL. But the bandstand was a bit more crowded on Thursday, February 28. Delightfully so.

Dan Miller

Besides regular drummer Tony Vigilante and St. Petersburg bassist Joe Porter, subbing for a couple of weeks for Brandon Robertson, they were joined by tenor saxophonist Gerald Augustin and alto saxophonist Bob Bowlby, a Boston music scene mainstay who is in the area visiting family. 

On most tunes, as is standard in jazz, each member of the band takes a solo that stretches the music in varied ways, before they all join back in for the wrap up. That happened on most numbers this night. But the four-man horn line, enabled Miller to change things up near the end of the first set.

Tony Vigilante, Joe Porter

The band treated the crowd to a ballad medley. With Porter and Vigilante keeping the steady, swinging time, Del Gatto dug into a straight melodic reading of "You Don't Know What Loves Is." Without skipping a beat, Bowlby offered his take on "Angel Eyes." That segued into Fort Myers native Augustin's more modern take on Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady." Miller brought it home with his trumpet on "Tenderly."

It was a fine ballad relay between the four players, celebrating each tune's melodic essence without a lot of improvisational fanfare. Impresario Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tours from 1944 to 1957 used the ballad medley to great effect during its all-start concerts. It was great to hear Miller & Co. extend the tradition with excellence.

Digging the tenor solo

   

Del Gatto, Vigilante, Bowlby

Other evening treats included the band's explorations of Thelonious Monk's "Bright Mississippi," Ray Noble's hard-driving romp "Cherokee" and "On The Trail" from composer Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."

This evening wrapped up three straight evenings of Bowlby sitting in with one band or another during his latest Florida sojourn. It was also his first opportunity to play with 25-year Saturday Night Live Band alumnus Del Gatto. 

Bob Bowlby

Bowlby spent several years playing lead alto in the Buddy Rich Band and has more recently toured with the Buddy Rich Alumni Band. He's a Boston Pops regular and can be found in the pit for just about every touring musical that stops in Beantown. Florida musicians in the know look forward to his visits. 

Y'all come back now. Hear?
 

Del Gatto, Vigilante, Bowlby, Augustin, Porter, Miller

Two Trumpets, No Waiting

Los Angeles-based trumpeter Chuck Findley was the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra’s special guest on Wednesday, February 27 as part of the sextet’s 2018-19 concert series. Amid all of the polished playing and musical firepower, he and trumpeter Dan Miller quickly turned the evening into a mutual admiration event at Artis-Naples' Daniels Pavilion.

Chuck Findley

That feeling was most apparent as the band tackled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island,” trombonist (and longtime Findley collaborator) Matt Finders’ blues composition “Two Trumpets, No Waiting,” and Findley and Miller’s more-nuanced exploration of "Joy Spring." This version of trumpeter Clifford Brown’s jazz classic teamed them with just the rhythm section. 

 

Dan Miller

All evening, as one of the trumpeters took a solo, the other watched and listened in rapt admiration. Their unison work on melodic lines was exquisite.

Findley was featured on several tunes, playing the mellower flugelhorn on the Bruno Martino ballad “Estate” and on the standard “Star Eyes.”

Findley, Miller

The band also dug into Jerome Kern’s “The Song is You,” Miles Davis’s arrangement of Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” and “What a Wonderful World.” The NPJO includes Miller, tenor saxophonist and artistic director Lew Del Gatto, violinist Glenn Basham, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey.

Findley, a longtime studio ace, began his career with stints in the Jimmy Dorsey Band and the Buddy Rich Band before joining “The Tonight Show Band” led by Doc Severinsen during the Johnny Carson era. He also played in “The Tonight Show Band” led by Branford Marsalis and later Kevin Eubanks during the Jay Leno era.

Findley, Del Gatto

He has known 25-year “Saturday Night Band” alumnus Del Gatto for many years, but this was the first time they’d seen each other, or played together, since 1966. Back then, Findley was in the Buddy Rich Band and Del Gatto had joined the band as a two-week substitute.

Miller had met Findley several times over the years but this splendid night, bringing out the best in each soloist, was the first time they had performed together.

Kevin Mauldin

Glenn Basham

Lew Del Gatto

The sextet's next concert, on Wednesday, April 24, features rising-star singer Veronica Swift.

Time flies when you're having fun

Drummer Al Hixon has been hosting weekly jam sessions in or near Sarasota for about 30 years that draw an interesting blend of consummate jazz pros, amateurs and devoted listeners. The latest incarceration takes place Monday nights from October through May at 15 South Ristorante Entoteca on St. Armand's Circle. 

Al Hixon

The retired landscape architect and land planner from southern New England also treats area jazz societies at least once a year to appearances by his Underheard Herd. That band includes a few mainstays - former Ellington bassist John Lamb and pianist Dick Reynolds, who was the house pianist at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago for many years.

Dick Reynolds

Dick Hamilton, Jim Wellen

The rest of the band changes from appearance to appearance, as Hixon shines the spotlight on a variety of players that he likes - sometimes in fresh combinations - or newcomers that he feels should be heard by more ears. He's as much a talent scout as a timekeeper.

On Friday, February 22, his Underheard Herd performed for the South County Jazz Club in Venice FL. Besides Lamb and Reynolds, it included trombonist Dick Hamilton, tenor saxophonist Jim Wellen and singer Debbie Keeton. There were also two unexpected treats who had found their way onto Hixon's musical radar at 15 South.  

Rick Aaron

Jonah Kreitner

Those cameo performers were Milwaukee-based flutist Rick Aaron, who has joined the flock of snowbirds who head to Florida for some of the winter months, and Jonah Kreitner, a 16-year-old violinist who attends Hunter College High School in New York. Kreitner happened to be in town visiting his grandparents.

The afternoon featured a lot of band flexibility. There were some quintet pieces, a few quartet pieces featuring one of the horn players with the rhythm section, some solo piano artistry from Reynolds, and even some solos or duos by Lamb, the latter with Wellen.

Favorite moments: 

• Reynolds' classically-tinged exploration of "My Funny Valentine," mining a lot of fresh nuances from this jazz staple. 
• Hamilton's features, which underscored his talent as a top-notch jazz arranger: "I Thought About You" and Harold Arlen's "A Sleepin' Bee."
• Kreitner's versions of "If I Were a Bell" and "No Greater Love" with the trio.
• Aaron's beautiful flute work on "Beautiful Love" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." He was enjoying the 85-degrees and sunny afternoon in Venice, noting it was -7 in Milwaukee that morning.
• Wellen's breezy bossa nova take on "All or Nothing at All" and his center-stage  tenor-bass duet with Lamb on "Pick Yourself Up."

Al Hixon, John Lamb

Debbie Keeton

Keeton joined the quintet for "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "Lullaby of Birdland" and a bluesy afternoon closer.





The concert was held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice.

Hamilton, Keeton, Reynolds, Wellen

Musical love takes many forms

Music has been called the universal language, capable of bringing together people of many different countries, cultures and genres. West African percussionist Aiyb Dieng also considers it an expression of love uniting performers with each other - and with their listeners.

Dieng, a native of Senegal, has worked with a wide range of musicians, including  Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Bill Laswell, Bob Marley and Herbie Hancock. The list also includes Karl Berger, who founded Woodstock NY's eclectic, avant garde-tinged Creative Music Studio in 1972 with his wife, singer Ingrid Sertso, and encouragement from Ornette Coleman.

Aiyb Dieng

Dieng shared his music in three different formats on Friday, February 15, at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers FL. His huge arsenal of drums and other hand percussion instruments, surrounding him on racks and tables. were at the heart of it all, even when he had some help from two different groups of musical friends.

Clint Robinson

The program began with four or five solo percussion numbers, as Dieng improvised moods and exotic melodies on his drums, shakers, other noisemakers and a musical bow.

The evening took the first of two sharp turns when he brought three other players to the stage for a healthy dose of Jamaican music, a tip of the hat perhaps to his association with Marley. It started, quite appropriately, with Marley's "One Love," included a reggae version of "If I Were a Carpenter" and closed with Marley's "Rasta Man Chant" - its poignant "Fly Away Home to Zion" lyrics delivered by singer Clint Robinson and keyboardist-singer Dave Walker.

Amina Claudine Myers

Rachella Parks-Washington

The second set was nothing like the first, as Dieng went into "free jazz" mode with some creative music notables: Hammond B-3 organist Amina Claudine Myers, tenor saxophonist Rachella Parks-Washington, violinist Charles Burnham, electric bassist Ted Myerson and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. 

Charles Burnham

Pheeroan akLaff

Together, they roared through a half-dozen extended pieces, each taking solos but also blending their individual sounds into the thick musical conversation. Dieng shifted from one drum, gong or shaker to another before returning to his congas and bata drum. No vocals, no song introductions. Just sharing their instrumental harmony.

That feeling floated out into the audience, which seemed spellbound by the moment and answered that message of love with an enthusiastic ovation. 

Parks-Washington, Burnham, Myerson, akLaff, Dieng, Myers

Mastery and stylistic breadth carry the night

No matter which gems brothers Peter and Will Anderson choose to explore from the very wide and deep jazz canon, the pair always delight with their technique, clever arrangements and swinging musicality.

Such was the case on Monday, February 11, when the 31-year-old identical twins performed in the Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artist Series in Port Charlotte FL. Paris-born guitarist Felix Lemerle, a Fullbright Scholar who has worked regularly with the Andersons for two years, completed the trio.

Will and Peter Anderson

Stylistically the music was all over the map, but the Andersons embraced it and transformed the varied selections into something all their own. We’re talking vintage New Orleans, Claude Debussy’s classical masterpiece “Clair de Lune,” some movie soundtrack gems, and something from the pen of hard-bop composer Horace Silver, as well as early Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

Felix Lemerle

Peter Anderson (the elder brother, by one hour) played tenor and soprano saxophones, and clarinet. Will Anderson (the taller brother, by one inch) played alto sax, clarinet and flute. Lemerle soloed and played rhythm guitar as the situation demanded, also tapping his fret board to provide a drum-like rhythm on occasion.

The twins are Bethesda, MD natives who studied at Juilliard and are based in New York City. They shifted with ease between instruments, sometimes doubling on the melody or handing the melody off to each other in seamless fashion.

They also supported each other’s solos with a more rhythmic role. Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” which became Artie Shaw’s biggest hit, was a prime example. As Will dug into the familiar melody on clarinet, Peter used his tenor sax to drop in accent notes that kept time much like a drummer or bassist.

Their version of “Clair de Lune” was unusual. The combined sound they created on tenor sax and clarinet melded into something that at times seemed like it was coming from an accordion.

Other material presented in this program included “These are a Few of My Favorite Things,” “After You’ve Gone,” “Basin Street Blues,” a teasing arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue,” Horace Silver’s funky “The Preacher,” “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Mood Indigo,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Moon River,” “Darn That Dream” and a burning take on Ray Noble’s “Cherokee” before closing with Louis Armstrong’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” 

Will Anderson

This was the brothers’ second Port Charlotte visit. They first performed for CCJS four years ago. At that February 9, 2015 concert, they performed “Reed Reflections,” which a good friend, New York-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Athayde, wrote for them as a symphonic piece.

Peter Anderson

This night, they shared Athayde’s "Appalachian Mountain Song." Featuring the brothers on clarinets, the complex and vivid song’s textures and rhythms sounded like it was inspired by the Appalachian Round song form. It was composed for clarinets and a 31-piece string orchestra. Lamerle took on all of the string responsibilities with his artful guitar work.

The concert at the Cultural Center of Charlotte County’s William H. Wakeman III Theater drew a crowd of more than 300.

Will Anderson, Felix Lemerle, Peter Anderson