Ramsey Lewis at Orchestra Hall: Concert review

When: Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 • Where: Orchestra Hall • Who: Ramsey Lewis, piano; Larry Gray, bass; Leon Joyce Jr., drums. Opening set: Bruce Henry, vocals; Peter Vircks, saxophone; Bryan Nichols, piano; Chris Bates, bass; Daryl Boudreaux, percussion; Kevin Washington, drums. Host Irvin Mayfield.

Last night’s program at Orchestra Hall was billed as being all about the blues. It wasn’t, but nobody cared. Instead, the audience was treated to a sublime set of music by the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

Anyone who thinks this group is about resting on laurels, delivering hits, and playing it safe is mistaken. The music was as rich and sophisticated, melodic and complex, inside and out there as any I’ve heard in a long time.

The opener, “Wade in the Water,” became a sweet samba, with Joyce stroking his drums with his hands. The crowd applauded wildly and Lewis joked, “Shall we quit while we’re ahead?”

At 74, Lewis has embarked on what is almost a new career, or at least a new passion: composing. A series of commissions for the Joffrey Ballet and the Ravinia Festival, where Lewis serves as artistic director for jazz, has made him feel “like a kid on Christmas morning.” His new CD, Songs from the Heart, due out on Concord on Sept. 29, is his first-ever (out of 80 to date) to include all original compositions.

We heard “To Know Her Is to Love Her” (from the Joffrey work) and “Conversation,” written for Ravinia and performed there in 2008 by the Turtle Island String Quartet. The latter made me hold my breath, it was so beautiful—and much like a conversation, perhaps between lovers, with changes in mood and tempo. Another original, “Exhilaration,” showcased Gray on the bass, bowing like a classical master, plucking and tapping like an avant-garder. We heard a lot of arco (bowed) bass during the evening; Gray used his bow almost as much as he used his fingers.

Throughout, Lewis made occasional references to the blues, inviting us to “find where it is” in the music he was playing, reminding us that jazz was born in the blues. For the centerpiece of the set, he took us back to before the blues with a medley of gospel tunes and spirituals. Not the usual play-a-few-notes, awkward-pause, switch-tunes medley, but a lengthy, elegantly constructed series of phrases, whole songs, and variations within songs, linked together by improvisation, like pearls on a string. Between selections, as Lewis moved his fingers over the keys, you could almost hear him thinking “What next?”

I recognized “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” “Precious Lord,” Ellington’s “Come Sunday,” “How Great Thou Art,” and (I think) “Lift Ev’ry Voice.” Lewis and Joyce traded melodic phrases (Joyce played notes on his drums, with help from his elbows) on the way to Joyce’s big solo of the night, a breathtaking display of speed, invention, and precision.

Except for the originals, much of this was music many of us had heard before, made new by surprising changes and phrases, rhythms and transitions. People talked afterward about how modern it was, how “outside,” and how it wasn’t what they expected.

We got the encore everyone wanted: “The ‘In’ Crowd.” A soft and lovely solo piano introduction worked its way there, the familiar chords burst forth, and the audience loved it. Joyce’s whistle midway through signaled a detour into an Afro-Cuban tempo.

If you’re going to have a huge hit, make it a good one, like “The ‘In’ Crowd” or “Take Five” or "Poinciana," and don’t get stuck singing “Muskrat Love” for the rest of your life.

For the last song of the night, Lewis finally gave us a classic blues tune: Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do.” (Hat tip to Dan Emerson for the title.) Which, as it happens, appears on Lewis's first-ever live album, Ramsey Lewis Live at the Savoy (1982).

A note on where we sat: We moved during intermission from a row midway down the main floor to empty seats on Tier B looking down at the stage. With help from my handy binocs, I could see everything: how Leon Joyce reached casually over his right shoulder to tap the inverted cymbal to his right, Larry Gray pressing the strings of his bass, the red felt lightning bolts inside the Steinway, Lewis’s hands on the keys. I thought the sound was better, too—it rose up to us from the monitors and the instruments themselves, rather than passing over and between hundreds of people

And I have to say that Lewis, Gray, and Joyce looked good. I mean really good All three were impeccably attired. Their posture was perfect, their stage presence professional. Handsome men. Lewis, the legend, great statesman of jazz, is 74? Don’t believe it. Skin like a baby.

Ramsey Lewis Trio Setlist
"Wade in the Water"
"To Know Her Is to Love Her"
"Conversation"
"Exhilaration"
"Spiritual Medley"
"The 'In' Crowd"
"Baby What You Want Me to Do"

Starting what I hope will be a regular thing at OH jazz shows, the evening began with an opening set by area musicians, led by soulful vocalist Bruce Henry, who now lives in Chicago but was here long enough to become part of our music scene (plus we’re not willing to let him go).

He and his band brought out the big crowd-pleasers: “Statesboro Blues” (“Wake up, mama, turn your lamp down low”), a lovely “Embraceable You” (nice solo, Chris), Henry’s composition “Jump That Broom,” and “House of the Rising Sun,” which Henry said he was inspired to sing by Nina Simone.

They were given half an hour—not long enough, even though Lewis and his trio were up next.

After last night’s “Broom,” Boudreaux needs a new washboard; he broke a leg on the one he had.

Jazz jam, with Wynton

When: Saturday, March 7 • Where: Dakota

The Dakota jazz club and Orchestra Hall, home of the Minnesota Orchestra, have been in close geographical proximity since the Dakota moved from St. Paul to Minneapolis in late 2003, but they never had a relationship until Lilly Schwartz became the Orchestra’s director of pops and special projects. Ever since, artists performing at Orchestra Hall have made their way to the Dakota after shows to dine in the club’s restaurant and sometimes perform on its stage. So when the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra came to town, it was a given that at least some of the band members would stop by on Friday or Saturday, maybe both. And it was hoped that some of them would jam with the excellent trio hired for the late-night shows: pianist Bryan Nichols, bassist Adam Linz, drummer J.T. Bates.

We weren’t able to go to the late-night on Friday but heard later that trumpeter Sean Jones and other JLCO members performed—and that a local musician had engaged Jones in a cutting contest. As they say, poor bastard, and I don’t mean Jones.

We were there on Saturday and it was one for the jazz history books. We knew when Wynton Marsalis came into the club—everyone knew—but didn’t expect him to play. Then he stepped on stage and joined Nichols, Linz, and Bates for the first tune. When he stepped down, we thought that was all we would hear from him. More JLCO members played—bassist Carlos Henriquez, drummer Ali Jackson, trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Ryan Kisor. Then the trio took a break, after which Marsalis returned with his own trio: pianist Dan Nimmer, Henriquez, Jackson.



For the next 20 minutes or so, the Dakota was the Village Vanguard, Blues Alley, and the House of Tribes. By now it was SRO—word had gotten out—and it was thrilling to be there. The last time Marsalis played a small club in the Twin Cities was October 2003, at the now-defunct Brilliant Corners in St. Paul. Tickets were $45. The Dakota charges $5 for its late-night sets. People who walked in off the street on Saturday out of curiosity, or because they had heard the Dakota had a late-night scene and wanted to check it out, got more than a bargain. They got a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

When the quartet finished, the jam didn’t end. Saxophonist Michael Lewis, home on break from his tour with Andrew Bird, came through the curtain and played a tune; so did saxophonist Chris Thomson. Drummer Kevin Washington took over for J.T. toward the end and filled the air with thunder. Marsalis stood by the side of the stage, nodding and smiling.



See also my Arts Arena post on MinnPost.com.
Photos by John Whiting. Top to bottom: Wynton Marsalis; Nimmer, Henriquez, Marsalis, Jackson; Nichols, Linz, Lewis, Washington, Thomson.

P.S. I asked Jeremy Walker, former proprietor of Brilliant Corners, what Marsalis and his group played during their set. His answer: "I believe it is a suite of tunes called 'The Magic Hour.' I know he played some of the material at Brilliant Corners way back when. If I remember right, it is a suite about getting the kids to bed so you can have quiet time with the special person in your life."

Debbie Duncan at the Dakota

When: Thursday, Jan. 8, 2008 • Where: Dakota • Who: Debbie Duncan, voice; Chris Lomheim, piano; Adam Linz, bass; Daryl Boudreaux, percussion; Kevin Washington, drums

We see Debbie Duncan at Barbara Morrison's show on Monday, then return to the Dakota on Thursday for Debbie and her quartet. We arrive in time for "Over Dere," a song for which I usually have little patience but I like pretty much whatever Debbie sings.

She moves effortlessly from song to song, style to style. And she knows how to get the best out of whatever band she plays with. There are moments tonight of pure magic when the energy can't get any higher or the music any better--during "After All" ("Mornin' Mr. Radio, mornin' little Cheerios, mornin' sister Oriole"), and during Debbie's own arrangement of "Afro Blue," accompanied only by Boudreaux and Washington. Voice-and-percussion now seems like the perfect way to do this song.



She sings "Love, Look Away" from Flower Drum Song and a swinging version of Cole Porter's "It's All Right with Me," ornamented at the end with scatting. And "Misty," a tune we've all heard a zillion times but not like this: She sings around the melody, not on it. Occasionally she lands on a melody note, but only briefly, like she's touching ground between flights.

In homage to jazz legend James Moody, who comes to the Dakota on Monday and Tuesday (Jan. 12-13), she performs "Moody's Mood for Love," which inspires an introduction. "Personally," she says, "I think this is one of the sexiest songs ever written, yet it leaves something to the imagination. It's one of those songs you put on when you're trying to get from point A to point Z in the course of an evening." Her between-songs patter is warm and engaging.

"Teach Me Tonight" is soulful and sincere, playful and bluesy; she ends with "Teach me! I'm willing!" and sends us out into the night. She's back at the Dakota on the 20th in "4 Women for Obama" with Yolande Bruce, Ginger Commodore, and Tonia Hughes-Kendrick, then again on February 7 with Adi Yeshaya. Debbie, do your many fans a solid and update your schedule on your Web site so we know where else to find you.

Photos by John Whiting.

Jazz is NOW!

When: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 • Where: Carleton Artists Lofts Community Room • Who: Jeremy Walker, keyboards; Kelly Rossum, trumpet; Chris Thomson, saxophones; Scott Fultz, saxophones and flute; Jeff Brueske, bass; Kevin Washington, drums

While I'm in CT at Soul Mountain Retreat, HH is taking in some jazz on his own. Like the Jazz is NOW! open rehearsal/party fundraiser, a preparation for the NOWnet's formal premiere on Tuesday, October 7, at the Minnesota Opera Center.

Jeremy, is that a rubber duckie on your keyboard? Let's take a closer look:


Photo by John Whiting.

The John Raymond Project

When: Wednesday, June 25 • Where: Dakota • Who: John Raymond, trumpet and flugelhorn; Javier Santiago, piano; Jeremy Boettcher, bass; Aaron Hedenstrom, alto sax; Kevin Washington, drums



Taylor Eigsti writes about his feelings; John Raymond shares them with the audience during live performance. Introducing an original composition called “The Poor Blind Man,” Raymond explains that it’s not about a man who is physically blind and has no money, but about a man who can see and is wealthy but doesn’t see the right things, the right truths, or the right goals. It's foolish to think that wealth can make us happy, he says. It’s a bit didactic for an early-evening jazz show but the tune, a pensive ballad with Raymond on flugelhorn, backs it up and Raymond's words give you something to think about as you listen. I like it when musicians tell us something about their music, especially original works, though some people wish they would shut up and play.



I’m here after a meeting and stay for just the first set and part of the second, but it’s lively and enjoyable, a tight quintet playing solid straight-ahead jazz: Monk’s “Trinkle Trinkle,” Joe Henderson’s “Recordame,” Raymond’s original, a blues, a playful tune by Hedenstrom called “Think About It.” The Hedenstrom piece is especially interesting: slower measures followed by doubletime, slow, doubletime, slow, doubletime. I don’t think it has been recorded but I’d like to hear it again.

Hear “Poor Blind Man” and more on Raymond’s MySpace page.

Photos by John Whiting.