{"id":8304,"date":"2017-04-04T13:55:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T20:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8304"},"modified":"2017-04-04T14:09:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T21:09:58","slug":"guest-report-the-nea-jazz-masters-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2017\/04\/guest-report-the-nea-jazz-masters-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Report: The NEA Jazz Masters Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"At the invitation of the Rifftides<\/em> staff, reader Michael Phillips sent a report about the NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert last night at the Kennedy Center. Mr. Philips (pictured left) lives near Washington, DC. He ”\u00a0is a clean-energy consultant who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153used to play guitar in swing and jump blues bands\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and now co-hosts a jazz radio show.<\/p>\n

By Michael Philips<\/strong><\/p>\n

In person, the music was electrifying. In a tribute to Dick Hyman, his long-time friend, semi-prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 and distant cousin Bill Charlap joined with Aaron Diehl for a medley on twin grand pianos. They started playfully with a few measures of Scott Joplin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Entertainer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d then went through a series of increasingly complex Hyman tunes. The pianists played overlapping harmonies and rhythms, and when the baton was passed each sat silently while the other soloed.<\/p>\n

Another highlight was the ensemble playing in tribute to Dave Holland. For a few minutes, the rest of the band stopped as trombonist Robin Eubanks and saxophonist Chris Potter went off on an extended mutual solo. Partly because of his work with Pat Metheny and his many Down Beat<\/em> awards, Potter is already well known among jazz fans. Eubanks showed that he deserves as much attention as his guitarist brother Kevin and his late uncle, pianist Ray Bryant.<\/p>\n

A poignant moment came in the tribute to Dr. Lonnie Smith when the blind 16-year-old organist Matthew Whitaker, playing the Hammond B-3, led a quartet through Jimmy Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mellow Mood .\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 The piece also featured a superb solo by guitarist Mike Moreno.<\/p>\n

The pit band was the talented all-female 15-piece Diva Jazz Orchestra led by Sherrie Maracle. They did a yeoman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job backing alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and pianist Dan Tepfer during their tribute to jazz writer Ira Gitler, and in accompanying singer Dianne Reeves and clarinetist Paquito D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Rivera as they honored brand new Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater.<\/p>\n

During a listening session at NPR headquarters the day before the NEA concert, bassist Dave Holland recounted a time in 1968 when he was playing at Ronnie Scott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Club in London. During a break, his friend Philly Joe Jones told him that Miles Davis was in the audience and wanted him to join Miles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 band. Holland said he thought Jones was pulling his leg, but Jones insisted”\u00a0that he should talk to Miles during the next break. At the break, Holland looked for Davis but was told he had gone back to his hotel. The next morning, he waited until a respectable hour, then called the hotel, only to be told that Miles had checked out and gone to the airport. Holland called Philly Joe and asked him what he should do. Jones said to hang tight, that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hear from Miles.<\/p>\n

A week went by, then another week. Three weeks later on a Tuesday at three o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122clock in the morning Holland got a call. It was from Miles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 manager asking if he can make a gig with Davis”\u00a0in New York on Friday. Of course Holland said yes, then raced around London getting a visa and a plane ticket and was on the first flight he could arrange. All the while, he was listening to Miles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 music, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really know what to expect at the gig. He arrived in New York the afternoon before the date”\u00a0and went to Herbie Hankcock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house. Herbie went over the changes of some tunes with him, but Holland showed up for the gig with minimal preparation. Miles appeared at the last minute, counted off the first tune and they were off and running.<\/p>\n

Holland stayed with the Davis band for two years.<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

(Michael Phillips\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 radio program In the Jazz Kitchen<\/em> airs Thursdays from 9 to 11pm Eastern time on the non-profit, community-based station WOWD-FM 94.3. It streams live at takomaradio.org<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the invitation of the Rifftides staff, reader Michael Phillips sent a report about the NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert last night at the Kennedy Center. Mr. Philips (pictured left) lives near Washington, DC. He ”\u00a0is a clean-energy consultant who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153used to play guitar in swing and jump blues bands\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and now co-hosts a jazz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8305,"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-8304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304","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=8304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}