Mean Jazz

One of the reasons that I moved to the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt was so that I could walk to the Jazz Showcase. I've been delighted to become a regular there - saving the monthly calendars Joe puts on the tables each month and highlighting every performance I've seen.

They have been terrific.

But New Year's night, I went to see Roy Hargrove. I caught him at the JS last year, and was blown away. Besides enjoying the music, it was one of the tightest sets I'd ever seen. To me this speaks of a group that cares about professionalism and performance values - and I loved it.

You may have read Howard Reich's review of the first night of this year's set. If not, it was a rare rave from a man whose tastes don't always match mine and you can read it here:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-30/entertainment/ct-live-0101-roy-hargrove-20101230_1_trumpeter-roy-hargrove-hargrove-and-alto-saxophonist-montez-coleman/2

So I just KNEW I was in for a great evening of music. And the first set was extraordinary - everything I'd hoped and more. I wasn't thinking I'd write about it, so I didn't keep a set list, but they did several of Hargrove's own tunes. It was terrific.

There were so many people who had reserved for the 2nd set that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stay, and when I got a seat I was thrilled.

I knew something was odd when Roy came up with a brownie in his hand and spent a few minutes talking about it. But you know, whatever. On the first tune the drummer, Montez Coleman , seemed, well, shall we say EXTRA PUMPED? And I noticed that the pianist, Sullivan Fortner, and the drummer were having their own private joke - trying to catch each other's eyes and making faces and laughing. Ok, still, the music was good and whatever.

During the 2nd tune, Roy left the stage. He came back up to take a solo and then introduced the terrific young Chicago trumpeter, Marquis Hill. Here is a guy that is probably thrilled to be sitting in w/the group. As he starts playing, the drummer decides to abandon the drums and begin to clap in rythym instead. When Fortner joins him, of course, so does the audience. It was odd, but Marquis acquitted himself well. Towards the end of the solo, Coleman jumps back on drums - again with a volume and intensity uncalled for by the tune, but insuring that Hill would leave the stage to great applause.

He was followed by a Justin Robinson sax solo. Coleman is obviously not finished with his joke and begins clapping again. This time Fortner starts to add off beat claps which of course distract from the solo, but not absurdly so. Until they mess up. Now it is just a couple of guys cracking themselves up, and Robinson stops dead in the middle of a phrase. He turns to Coleman and gestures his anger by grabbing his crotch.

Not sure how, but the bass player, Ameen Saleem, was the only one to keep playing, to hold the whole thing together. Of course Coleman and Fortner are able to jump back in at will, and do. Hargrove and Robinson finish out the tune.

At this point I see that Hargrove is having a really hard time opening his eyes. No problem, he plays a ballad - flugelhorn at the ready. I can't recall what the tune was, but its a standard we all know from the American Songbook. It is gorgeous, and as he finishes Saleem starts a bass solo. Hargrove, as is his custom, goes upstage to sit behind the drummer. Suddenly I hear someone talking. It is disturbing and takes a minute for me to see that Coleman is laughing and that Hargrove is shouting out chords to Saleem, who has a frozen smile on his face as he tries to finish while not losing concentration.

At this point, I leave. I'm reminded of Neal Tesser's comments a couple of weeks ago about Ravi Coltrane's set - that Coltrane seemed to be working out his ideas on a live audience. Tesser felt that when an audience pays for a show, they should get a fully realized show - not a woodshed experience. I think I am stating his thoughts correctly, but you can read them here:

http://www.examiner.com/jazz-music-in-chicago/ravi-coltrane-s-disapppointing-chicago-sojourn

At least with Ravi, there were ideas, though not fully developed. Hargrove's disrespect for his audience, for the Showcase, and for his fellow musicians were totally offensive. Perhaps this is part of the reason that he is not playing concert venues - perhaps he and his bandmates while musically mature are too personally undisciplined to pull off the excellence of which they are obviously capable night after night.

And it left the impression that Hargrove thinks his audiences are not savvy enough to recognize junk when they see it. I'm with Robinson.