Out of the Mainstream and Then Back Again

Something other than mainstream finally took center stage at the Grammy Jazz Jam on Sunday afternoon at the Jazz Bakery. In the last of a four-concert series leading up to Wednesday’s Grammy ceremonies, the focus centered on melodic, groove-oriented music. For a while, that is.

But before the afternoon was over, the catchy rhythms of the instrumental pop style generally categorized, misleadingly, as contemporary jazz were unexpectedly countered by an impressive display of plain old straight-ahead playing.

The program started energetically with keyboardist Patrice Rushen’s high-voltage display of electric jazz improvising over a funk foundation; pianist David Benoit (with Rushen filling in on synthesizer) delivered a briskly rhythmic version of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”; and singers Brenda Russell and Jim Gilstrap added vocal interpretations that ranged across the borders between jazz, R&B; and gospel.

But there were also performances that persisted in maintaining connections with the jazz mainstream. Among them, bassist Abe Laboriel’s solo rendition of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was a remarkable achievement--a virtuosic technical performance and a musically fascinating improvisation. Saxophonist Brandon Fields, often identified with the smooth-jazz genre, unleashed his straight-ahead skills in a beautifully articulated delineation of “The Days of Wine and Roses.”

And the music moved even more strongly into the mainstream when Rushen proved that she is as comfortable with the jazz tradition as she is with instrumental pop via a beautifully realized version of “In a Sentimental Mood.”

But the most fascinating performance of the day came from an unexpected source, a 13-year-old Russian boy, now living in Kansas City, Mo., named Eldar Djangirov. Although he only played one number--an up-tempo romp through Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple From the Apple”--his astoundingly mature improvising, easily in a class with anything offered by the much older players on the bill, electrified the full-house crowd into a standing ovation.

Djangirov reportedly will perform Wednesday on the Grammy Awards show with a group of other young players. One hopes the show’s producers will have the good sense to give this amazing young prodigy some time in the solo spotlight.