Party: No Menu but Lots of Jam
Critic Whitney Balliett dubbed jazz “the sound of surprise,” and the setting in which surprises are perhaps most plentiful is a jam session.
The possibilities for serendipity are endless when 30 such off-the-cuff affairs unfold over a three-day weekend, as will be the case at the third annual West Coast Jazz Party this weekend. The party begins Friday and runs through Sunday at the Irvine Marriott and aboard a Hornblower dining yacht out of Newport Beach.
Drummer Jeff Hamilton, who’s been playing this sort of jazz party since 1978, recalled a typical meeting from last year’s West Coast event.
“I did a Brazilian set with [pianist] Bill Cunliffe and [flutist] Holly Hofmann, something I don’t get to do a lot, and it was magic,” Hamilton said from his home in Glendale. “Some things can jump out of a party unexpectedly.”
Another aspect of jazz parties is that they are just plain fun. Players who rarely see each other get to hang out and trade stories, and the camaraderie can lead to inspired performances.
“You get to play with people you wouldn’t ordinarily, and the audience is hooked up so you really try to make it come off,” said Troy, N.Y.-based baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola, a veteran of jazz parties since the early 1980s.
Hamilton, who leads his own trio and is part of the ad hoc groups that will be assembled for the occasion, and Brignola are just two of this year’s participants.
Among others: tenor saxophonists Scott Hamilton, Pete Christlieb and Rickey Woodard, organist Jimmy McGriff, trumpeters Jack Sheldon (one of his first appearances after successfully battling colon cancer), Stacy Rowles and Bobby Shew, trombonist Dan Barrett, pianists Gerald Wiggins, Junior Mance, guitarists Mundell Lowe and Ron Eschete, bassists Andy Simpkins and John Leitham and drummers Butch Miles, Roy McCurdy and Joe LaBarbera. (See accompanying schedule.)
With so many players and their diverse though essentially mainstream jazz styles, it takes a knowledgeable producer to organize the players into functional ensembles.
Hamilton remembered playing at Dick Gibson’s Jazz Party in Colorado Springs, Colo., the original of these events, and being placed with players who didn’t particularly get along. “It was the worst,” he said.
That won’t happen in Irvine, he said, because producers Joe Rothman and John McClure ask the players who they want to perform with. “Then we spend a few minutes before we go on figuring out what tunes to play, who’ll take solos” and so on, he said.
Hamilton is looking forward to performing with his trio, which features pianist Larry Fuller and bassist Lynn Seaton. The combo, which can also be heard at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City on Tuesday and Sept. 3, is versatile, which makes it possible to work with both a traditionalist, such as Saturday’s headliner Scott Hamilton, and a more modern player such as Brignola.
“One of the nice things about having a trio that’s flexible is that you can switch styles and still have your identity,” said the drummer, whose latest trio recording is “Live!”
The drummer also is looking forward to another go-round with McGriff, who headlines Friday night and with whom Hamilton once played at a jazz party in Ottercrest, Ore. “I’m a sucker for the organ,” he said. “It brings out something that I really love.”
McGriff of Cherry Hill, N.J., said he likewise gets a charge from getting together with old and new friends.
“There’s a kind of energy that happens that gives you a good feeling musically, especially if you’re working with good musicians,” he said.
Still, Brignola noted, there are challenges in these often, all-too-brief jams.
“You have a short period of time to make it come off, usually without the luxury of stretching out,” Brignola explained.
“But the music is fast-paced, so it’s not boring,” he added. “And if the fans don’t like one group, there’s another coming right up.”
And with it, the chance of more surprises.
*
* The 3rd Annual West Coast Jazz Party opens Friday at the Irvine Marriott, 18000 Von Karman Ave. Through Sunday. 7 p.m.-2 a.m. nightly. Jazz brunch cruise Sunday aboard Hornblower Dining Yachts, 2431 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach. 10:30 a.m. $35-$50 per day, $50 for the cruise alone; three-day passes, including cruise, $150-$195. Jazzline: (714) 724-3602; Irvine Marriott: (714) 553-0100; Hornblower Yachts: (714) 646-0155.
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WEST COAST JAZZ PARTY
FRIDAY
* Set No. 1: Stacy Rowles (trumpet), Dan Barrett (trombone), Junior Mance (piano), John Leitham (bass), Butch Miles (drums)
* Set No. 2: Holly Hofmann (flute), Rickey Woodard (tenor sax), Gerald Wiggins (piano), Andy Simpkins (bass), Ron Eschete (guitar) and Roy McCurdy (drums)
* Set No. 3: Jeff Hamilton Trio, with Hamilton (drums), Lynn Seaton (bass) and Larry Fuller (piano)
* Set No. 4: Bobby Shew (trumpet), Pete Christlieb (tenor sax), Nick Brignola (baritone sax), Barrett, Mance, Miles, Simpkins
* Set No. 5: Sue Raney (vocals), Fuller, Seaton and McCurdy
* Set No. 6: Jimmy McGriff (organ), with Eschete, Hamilton, Woodard
* Jam session: Hofmann, Brignola, Shew, Wiggins, Leitham, Miles
SATURDAY
* Set No. 1: Woodard, Brignola, Wiggins, Simpkins, Mundell Lowe (guitar) and Miles
* Set No. 2: Shew, Rowles, Mance, Leitham and Joe LaBarbera (drums)
* Set No. 3: Scott Hamilton (tenor sax) with Jeff Hamilton Trio
* Set No. 4: Lowe, Christlieb, Hofmann, Wiggins, Seaton, LaBarbera
* Set No. 5: Shew, Woodard, Fuller, Simpkins, Jeff Hamilton
* Set No. 6: Scott Hamilton, Barrett, Wiggins, Leitham, Miles
* Jam session: Mance, Hofmann, Rowles, Barrett, Christlieb, Simpkins, LaBarbera
SUNDAY CRUISE
Top Deck
* Set Nos. 1, 2 and 3: Paul Smith (piano), Jim DeJulio (bass), Miles
Middle Deck
* Set No. 1: Eschete, Woodard, Rowles, Brian Atkinson (vibes), Leitham
* Set No. 2: Eschete, Atkinson, Simpkins, Christlieb
* Set No. 3: Eschete, Atkinson, Hofmann, Brignola, Leitham
Lower Deck
* Set No. 1: Fuller, Seaton, LaBarbera, Brignola
* Set No. 2: Jeff Hamilton Trio
* Set No. 3: Fuller, Seaton, LaBarbera, Barrett
SUNDAY
* Set No. 1: Christlieb, Hofmann, Rowles, Cunliffe, Simpkins, Miles
* Set No. 2: Wiggins, Simpkins, McCurdy
* Set No. 3: Jack Sheldon (trumpet, vocals), Barrett, Brignola, Mance, Leitham, Miles
* Set No. 4: Brignola, Christlieb, Wiggins, Leitham, McCurdy
* Set No. 5: A Brazilian/jazz set with Cunliffe, Hofmann, Jeff Hamilton, Simpkins and Brian Kilgore (percussion)
* Set No. 6: Jack Sheldon Jazz Orchestra
* Jam session: Brignola, Cunliffe, Woodard, Barrett, Rowles, Jeff Hamilton, Leitham
Sets start at 7 p.m., last about 30 minutes each and are held in the Irvine Marriott’s Grand Ballroom. After the last set nightly, there will be a final jam session in the Lobby Lounge, beginning after 11 p.m. The Hornblower yacht jazz cruise runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.