 |
 
 
|
|
The
Dave Brubeck Quartet Dave Brubeck looks his 83 years of age; not that he looks bad—he could be described as a vital 83--it's just that he is obviously an elderly man, with a stoop to his walk and a shock of thin white hair capping his head. I've been fortunate to see a lot of jazz legends over the last twenty-odd years, some no longer with us, so it was a bit surprising to me to realize that this was the first time I've seen Dave live in concert (though I did see his sun Darius conduct a student group from South Africa back in January). I mention this because he sounded different in person than I had imagined. His style has either changed some over time or else my understanding of him was flawed in the first place--a mix of both is most likely the case. Rightly or wrongly, then, I have always thought of Brubeck as a meticulous player; clever and inventive, to be sure, but methodically so. Headlining the USC Jazz Festival honored as the President's Distinguished Artist, the pianist did display those traits; but he also swung much more freely and loose-jointedly than I imagined, particularly on an almost Monkian and off-the-cuff seeming reading of "On the Sunny Side of the Street." The players in the Dave Brubeck Quartet were uniformly excellent; Bobby Militello is a mountain of a man, and he sounded like one at times on alto sax, yet he also coaxed tender lines from his flute. He played the blues hot and let the temperature drop when the mood was cool. Bassist Michael Moore was equally adept playing pizzicato or bowing, and his solos invariably told a story. Randy Jones appeared low-key smiling behind the drum kit but his playing sounded much less calm. The
USC Thornton Orchestra opened the evening under the direction
of Shelly Berg--a pretty good pianist in his own right, as a listen
to his current Concord Records release Blackbird will attest—then
stayed on stage to alternate between being accompanists and spectators
to the Brubeck Quartet. The tunes combining the two groups were
among the most satisfying of the evening--the kids from the USC
jazz program can really play. Of course, it didn't hurt their
chances being featured on Dave's two best-loved songs, "Blue
Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five." Several students
were given a few bars to solo on; my favorite was a saxophone
player who got off to a bad start but managed to regain his composure
and work his way out of it; other musicians played better, but
his performance was the most inspiring. After the last notes were
sounded, both bands left the stage to a well-deserved standing
ovation from the large crowd.
|
