Getting Back in the Swing : Good Music, Few Memories of Ella at Playboy Fest

The sobering news of Ella Fitzgerald’s death did nothing to detract from the business-as-usual, party atmosphere at Sunday’s second day of the Playboy Jazz Festival. Strangely, Fitzgerald seemed largely forgotten during the 8 1/2-hour marathon session. With some 24 hours for the news of Fitzgerald’s passing to sink in, it seemed likely that at least some artists would prepare tributes, if only a song here and there.

It was left to trombonist J.J. Johnson, a Fitzgerald contemporary and at 72 only six years her junior, to deliver real homage. Opening his set with a reverent, solo trombone piece that slyly quoted from “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and other Fitzgerald-linked tunes, Johnson then dedicated his entire, often magnificent set to her memory.

That Johnson’s appearance with his quintet was also the fest’s musical high point was particularly appropriate. Presenting standards and a smart selection of his own material, Johnson played with strength, wit and surprising breath control. The flowing lyricism of his play contrasted sharply with the huff-and-puff school of trombone playing that currently is in vogue.

Johnson’s addition of steel drums to his backing quintet gave a nice, orchestral touch as Othello Molineaux hammered out ringing lines in unison with the trombone and saxophonist Dan Faulk, then soloed with agility and harmonic grace. The Playboy crowd, known to turn a deaf ear to acoustic acts in years past, was with the trombonist all the way.

The only other musical tribute was drummer T.S. Monk’s dedication of a song to her memory. The most likely performer to pay homage, singer Gladys Knight, didn’t even mention her name.

Coming early in the day, Monk’s set was a solid presentation in a style that often recalled the late Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Indeed, the band brought the Messengers’ driving swing, and a smoothly predictable piano solo from Ronnie Mathews, to “Monk’s Dream,” rather than the rhythmic quirks of its composer, T.S.’s father and jazz legend Thelonious Monk. Monk’s dedication to Fitzgerald, Clifford Jordan’s “The Highest Mountain” was a fittingly proper, transcendent swinger.

With Knight and Stray Cat guitarist Brian Setzer’s rock-swing band closing the day, the lineup seemed better suited than Saturday’s to the kind of revelry the festival often produces. But the party atmosphere commenced surprisingly early in the day, when people left their chairs to groove on the soulful double saxophone and Hammond organ band “Cos of Good Music II,” directed, often in humorous fashion, by festival master of ceremonies Bill Cosby.

From there, the high spirits continued during Jesus “Chucho” Valdes and Irakere’s much anticipated set. Though musically disappointing, with Valdes’ piano figuring prominently only in the beginning of the set, the 12-piece group built a boogie-frenzy in the audience with repetitive vocal riffs and a chorus line of dancing women pulled on stage from the audience.

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Bassist Stanley Clarke, who tried to serve as a link between the afternoon’s jazz and the evening’s more commercial acts, sounded almost mainstream in comparison, playing bebop on acoustic bass, before switching to electric for a thumb-pounded rendition of his now-classic fusion anthem “School Days.”

From there, it was on to Knight and her nine-piece backup band, which delivered a surprisingly entertainment-conscious, Las Vegas-ready show. Need we add that Setzer, who closed the day, rocked?

But Sunday’s show, which on paper may have looked inferior to the jazz purist crowd, rivaled Saturday for real jazz beef as well. Though Irakere’s set was a disappointment, there were fine moments during Bill Cosby’s soul-slanted “Cos II,” with saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Stanley Turrentine bouncing solos off the double whine of dual organists Charles Earland and Joey DeFrancesco.

Saxophonist Wayne Shorter took a tougher, more direct approach than heard on his latest, harmonically deep recording, as he played with a smaller, tighter band honed from the ensemble that was touring last year. Even beat-minded saxophonist Everette Harp showed that he knew what a jazz improvisation was.

A precedent of quality was set from the opening as the 17-piece Washington Preparatory High School Jazz Band, directed by Fernando Pullem, showed strength, confidence and an ability to play together seldom heard from high-school-level bands. The band’s rousing set, full of competent improvisations, proved that jazz has a future even as a generation of its greatest artists pass from the scene.

On the other hand, Knight’s set, though a crowd pleaser, offered little in the way of true musical creativity, as the singer rehashed her hits, while covering such overvalued numbers as “That’s What Friends Are For.”

Setzer’s set with 17-piece orchestra served to widen the gap between rock and jazz music. While playing with questionable rhythmic timing and singing off-key has always been a staple of rock ‘n’ roll, it sat poorly against the strains of the big band.