{"id":3410,"date":"2012-02-29T00:07:13","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3410"},"modified":"2012-02-29T00:17:52","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:17:52","slug":"portland-jazz-festival-take-five-marsalis-calderazzo-duo-brubeckians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/02\/portland-jazz-festival-take-five-marsalis-calderazzo-duo-brubeckians\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Festival, Take Five: Marsalis-Calderazzo Duo, Brubeckians"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARSALIS AND CALDERAZZO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parts of Brandford Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Joey Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sunday concert of saxophone-piano duets suggested the atmosphere of a 19th century recital somewhere in middle Europe. The beauty of Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153La Valse Kendall,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Bard Lachrymose\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the short \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Die Trauernde\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of Brahms encouraged quiet reflection. These are jazz musicians, however—two of the most adventuresome—and a complete afternoon of stately salon music wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the cards. The impression they left the capacity crowd in Portland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Newmark Theater was of good friends enjoying the rewards and risks of spontaneous creation. <\/p>\n

Some of the music was from their 2011 album Songs Of Mirth And Melancholy<\/em><\/a>.\"\"<\/a> Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dance\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was, among other things, a reminder of the richness of Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soprano sax tone, which is wide and nearly without vibrato. It was also an occasion for Calderazzo to unleash the Bach in his left hand and lead into a round of give-and-take exchanges with Marsalis that gained in both rhythm and precision as the action unfolded. Their performance of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eternal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was at least as long as the 18-minute one on the 2003 Marsalis quartet album<\/a> of that name and gave, if anything, an even more intimate tug on the emotions. Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loping 16-bar composition \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One Way\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has the character of something Sonny Rollins might have thought of in his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Way Out West\u00e2\u20ac\u009d days. Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tenor playing on it had that playful spirit <\/p>\n

In a decidedly non-middle-European interpretation of Frank Loesser\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve Never Been in Love Before,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marsalis took a tenor saxophone side trip through a quote from Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rockin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Rhythm.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Whether it was a convolution in the quote or something else that initiated a skipped beat, they collided in an oops<\/em> moment that caused them to laugh as they suspended motion for a split second to put the time back in place. A tag ending led Marsalis into a repeated phrase that worked into a bit of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jumping With Symphony Sid.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When the bout ended, both men seemed amused. Soloing in an earlier, unannounced, piece, Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left hand toyed with variations on stride patterns while his right fooled around with boldly reharmonized suggestions of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cheek to Cheek,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bringing a wry smile from Marsalis. <\/p>\n

Introducing his composition \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hope\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as their encore, Calderazzo said that since the death of tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker in 2007, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Branford is the only one I want to hear do this.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d On soprano sax, Marsalis alternately soared and subsided into quietness that had the audience holding its breath until the last long note died away. <\/p>\n

BRUBECK INSTITUTE JAZZ QUINTET<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Brubeck Institute<\/a> of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, sent a contingent to Portland. Simon Rowe, the institute\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new director, was in charge, but the front men were the current edition of the institute\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quintet. From the Marsalis-Calderazzo concert I hurried a few blocks to Portland State University\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lincoln Hall to hear them. When I arrived, they were in the midst of free playing that \"\"<\/a>seemed to have the odd mixture of wildness and self discipline required to make unstructured music succeed and—important point—they were having a good time. More important point—so was the audience. Audiences don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, always, when they are listening to free jazz. I wanted to hear what made San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> critic Jesse Hamlin describe this student group as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sensational\u00e2\u20ac\u009d after they played a few days ago at a concert in memory of San Francisco drummer Eddie Marshall.<\/p>\n

When they tackled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blue Rondo a la Turk,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I got an idea about what excited Hamlin. Dave Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s famous 1959 tune is in 9\/8, a time signature that used to make grown men cry but is now part of the water that young jazz players swim in. They took it fast and negotiated the complicated ensembles without a flaw. When the piece made transitions to 4\/4\/ time for solos, everyone improvised well, even daringly. I could quibble that in the heat of the moment a soloist or two packed in an oversupply of notes, but that is not a temptation unique to young players. Soloists of all ages and levels of experience succumb to it. Each musician stretched himself in a piece that in its blowing sections, after all, is just a good old blues in F. There was some outrageous and enthusiastic chance-taking. As far as I could hear, it all worked. It was their final number. I would like to have heard more, but based on the evidence of one performance of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blue Rondo,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d indications are that the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet is worthy of their namesake. You may care to take note of who they are on the likelihood that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll come across their names again: Alec Watson, piano; Tree Palmedo, trumpet; Bill Vonderhaar, bass; Rane Roatta, tenor saxophone; and Malachi Whitson, drums. <\/p>\n

Listening to those young investments in the future of music was a fine way to end a good five days at the Portland Jazz Festival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARSALIS AND CALDERAZZO Parts of Brandford Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Joey Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sunday concert of saxophone-piano duets suggested the atmosphere of a 19th century recital somewhere in middle Europe. The beauty of Calderazzo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153La Valse Kendall,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Bard Lachrymose\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the short \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Die Trauernde\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of Brahms encouraged quiet reflection. These are jazz musicians, however—two of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}