JAZZ REVIEW : Taylor Trio, Juilliard Quartet: Intriguing but Incompatible

Beethoven and jazz. A provocative combination or an incompatible concoction?

On the face of it, the Juilliard String Quartet’s appearance with the Billy Taylor Trio at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night seemed intriguing.

The juxtaposition of the Juilliard’s performance of Beethoven F-minor Quartet (Opus 95) with Taylor’s jazz improvisations suggested a symphony of opposites: the complex determinism of the Beethoven quartet contrasting dramatically with the spontaneity of jazz. But it didn’t quite work out that way.

The evening began well enough with the Juilliard delivering the Beethoven with dispatch and enthusiasm. The Taylor Trio, with Victor Gaskin on bass and Bobby Thomas on drums, followed with two originals, “C.A.G.” and “Suite for Jazz Piano and Orchestra” (arranged for jazz trio). Taylor is too good a pianist to ever play badly, but both pieces suffered from a tight, almost nervous tension that virtually precluded any feeling of rhythmic swing.

More serious problems emerged in Taylor’s “Homage” for his trio and the Juilliard Quartet. Written in tribute to jazz string players Eddie South, Stuff Smith, Oscar Pettiford and Slam Stewart, the piece--in its West Coast premiere--might have had possibilities had it been performed by its honorees. But Taylor’s boppish lines appeared to almost completely elude the Juilliard musicians.

Even so, the real dilemma was that “Homage” was neither good string quartet music nor good jazz. The players--both in the Quartet and the Trio--had to labor so hard to find an almost unreachable common ground that they never quite managed to get together to make music.

The unfortunate conclusion was that the program resulted in the best of Beethoven without capturing the excellence of Taylor.