JAZZ REVIEW : Improbable Pairings Pay Off at JVC Fest

Improbable pairings sometimes produce incredible results.

Look what happened at Town Hall at the cheerfully informal “George Wein and the Newport All-Stars,” a prominent event at the JVC Jazz Festival.

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis traded off against sax player Gerry Mulligan, leading to a ferocious climax, with Mulligan in aggressive form as Marsalis, jabbing and squeezing notes, engaged him in a polyphonic wild-blue-yonder foray on what had begun simply as “Bernie’s Tune.”

The entire musical-chairs evening Monday was rich in such surprises, particularly toward the end when all six trumpet players were on stage, from the 19-year-old New Orleans prodigy Nicholas Payton to the amazingly strong 88-year-old Doc Cheatham. Jon Faddis, 39, teamed with Cheatham for a buoyant “Sunny Side of the Street.”

Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, paired at times with Flip Phillips, soared into a powerful groove on a blues, his sound rich and soulful. As for Wein, he acquitted himself well as good-humored traffic director, decently as a pianist and amusingly as singer on--of all unlikely songs--”Just a Gigolo.”

It turned out to be one of the best events at the festival, which also offered some promising tributes. Some lived up to expectations--but not the program honoring Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker Tuesday night at Town Hall. In fact, the Monk segment was a disastrous disservice to him. Trumpeter Clark Terry kicked it off by saying: “This is a rehearsal,” which was just how it sounded.

Even Jaki Byard, normally a superior pianist, played hesitantly on Monk’s “Ask Me Now.” What’s worse, the best known of all Monk’s works, “ ‘Round Midnight,” sounded perfunctory except for a pleasant vocal by bassist Larry Gales.

The Parker tribute in the second half of the show was much better. Among the highlights: trumpeter Red Rodney, who played in Parker’s quintet in 1950, and the powerful alto saxophonist Charles McPherson offering their recollections of Parker. Two other alto players, Greg Abato and Jesse Davis, fleshed out the group at times. Pianist Barry Harris, performing somewhat hesitantly, was replaced later by Walter Bishop Jr., another 1950 Parker alumnus.

The tribute to late drummer Art Blakey on Wednesday at Avery Fisher Hall was an energy-packed affair. All that was missing was a touch of variety--like an occasional piano or horn solo to break up the monotony of the full-quintet and full-sextet pieces. All but two of the participants were members of the various Blakey groups between 1960 and 1990. The exceptions were Lewis Nash and Elvin Jones, who split the drum responsibilities.

The highlight of this evening of Blakey-style hard-bop was a cutting-edge set played by Wynton Marsalis, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson and tenor-sax man Billy Pierce, who worked together in an early ‘80s Blakey band. Another memorable moment: tenor-sax player Benny Golson, one of many talented composers to emerge from the Blakey ranks, working with Brian Lynch--Blakey’s final trumpeter--on the gracefully melodic Golson tune “Along Came Betty.”