Conference Performers at Full Speed

The International Assn. for Jazz Education kicked off its 29th annual conference at the Long Beach Convention Center on Wednesday with a fairly light schedule of events that only hinted at the busy collection of concerts, panels, clinics and research presentations planned for the following three days.

Despite the minimal number of clinics and panels, however, the lineup of performances was fully up to speed. In fact, the stylistic genres gathered for the opening day seemed cleverly designed to display the full breadth of jazz at the dawn of the 21st century.

There were, for example, the small ensembles of the Winard Harper Sextet and the Christine Jensen Sextet (the latter showcasing saxophonist Jensen with her trumpet-playing sister, Ingrid Jensen). There was the large ensemble of Gordon Goodwin--the Big Phat Band--performing with a guest artist, veteran saxophonist-flutist James Moody. There was a nod in the direction of fusion and funk with a group featuring trumpeter Rick Braun, tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum, guitarist Norman Brown and organist Ricky Peterson. And there was the melting-pot combination of urban pop sounds and jazz improvisation offered by Russell Gunn and Ethnomusicology.

Coursing through this colorful assemblage of music were some impressive individual moments. The Big Phat Band, for example, has established itself over the past year as one of the Southland’s most craftsman-like hard-swinging large jazz ensembles, galvanized by Goodwin’s witty and insightful arrangements and compositions. But the presence of Moody, romping through three classic jazz testing points--”Cherokee,” “Body and Soul” and “Take the ‘A’ Train”--took everything up a level. The fusion ensemble of Braun, Brown, Whalum and Peterson, offering a musical genre not often heard at this event, seemed to vacillate between the backbeat rhythms of instrumental pop and somewhat more enterprising musical excursions.