Detroit Jazz Festival 2016

Calvin H. Neal, Jr.
November 1, 2016

This year’s Detroit Jazz Festival was absolutely phenomenal!! I took in the first three days and on all three, I went to one venue and spent the entire evening.

On night one, actually there is only one venue, the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage at Cadillac Square. We got to the venue, which since this was the only one, was teeming with over a crowd of over 20,000, to hear final  two tunes from Artist-in-Residence, Ferndale native world renowned bassist, Ron Carter and his Nonet.  Next up, The Soul Rebels, an eight piece, brass heavy aggregation from New Orleans. Their high powered R'n'B influenced New Orleans style jazz had the crowed pumped. The act that the crowd seemed to be clamoring for finished the night. Legendary guitarist and singer George Benson was in rare form.  To be honest, his voice is far from his heyday, but his guitar was as magnificent as it ever was. He infused his jazz classics, “Bad Benson”, “No Sooner Said Than Done”, with his rhythm and blues hits, “Love Times Love”, Gimme The Night”, and had the crowd eating out of his hand all night. Whether you prefer his jazz or his R’n’B, you jammed and grooved the night away. 

Night One started the festival out with a bang, but Day Two, would be a day to remember. 

We arrived at the Wayne State University Pyramid at Hart Plaza around 3:45. Playing was the act listed as ‘Yokohama Jazz Promenade Presents “Hakuei Kim-Trisonique”. It was a trio from Japan, and we heard some of the best straight ahead jazz in a long time. The group, Haukuei Kim, piano, Tomokazo Sugimoto on bass and drummer, Hidenobu “Kalto” Yotsuki absolutely blew us away. As my brother Greg commented, “This cat is on a Keith Jarrett vibe”.  Hard hitting trio jazz reminiscent of Strata East recordings of the 1970’s (theme) and the slender, baby faced Kim was a revelation. Fluid, smooth articulate and nest level, Kim drove his trio.  In their nearly 80 minute set them some really swinging progressive originals by the group. Sugimoto played upright and electric bass and kept the groove tight. While “Kalto” on drums steadied the ship with this deft stick work.  Their final tune was a frenetically witty homage to actor Jackie Chan titled, “Jackie on the Run”.

Then came the act my brothers and I so highly anticipated.  The Stanley Cowell Quintet featuring Billy Harper and Charles Tolliver, referred to by Cowell as “the Strata East All-Stars, Cowell and Tolliver founded Strata East Records in 1971 and it was the main purveyor of their brand of advanced hard bop. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strata-East_Records) . This was a dream session.  Watching them as they warmed up, pianist Cowell, 75, saxophonist Harper, the baby of the “All-Stars’ at 73 and 74 year old trumpeter Tolliver, looked vibrant and ready. We were saying among ourselves, “this could get ugly, quick”, and boy did it! First Cowell performed with just the rhythm section, bassist Jay  Anderson and drummer Carl Allen. Then onto the stage came, as Cowell introduced, “Charles Tolliver and Billy Harper, the Strata East All-Stars”.  And they got to it straight away. The set began with the tune Tolliver is well known for the classic, “On The Nile”. Tolliver did the signature intro and the crowd went wild.  Tolliver at 74 has understandably lost a tad of his facility, but on the solos of “On The Nile”, “Ruthie’s Heart” and other classics  the fire and intensity was still very much in play. Harper, whose signature tune, “Capra Black”, showed Harper in excellent form. Cowell played with the deft, gentle, driving touch he has always been known for. Bassist Anderson and Allen on drums rounded out this historic quintet. 

Closing out night two, still at the Wayne State University Pyramid Stage, the Ron Carter Quartet took the stage.  Pianist Renee Rosnes (wife of pianist Bill Charlap), Peyton Crossley on drums and percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos and Ron Carter, took the stage on this perfect early September night in formal wear and for as wonderful as they looked, their music also hit the heights.  Starting with the Miles Davis/Bill Evans penned classic, “Flamenco Sketches”, this dynamic quartet played a range of standards, classic and Carter originals, and Carter and his compatriots were more than ready. Rosnes showed a light, articulate style and she and Carter seemed to be simpatico. It seemed that the drummer, Crossley, was in constant motion throughout the set. Whether soloing or just keeping a steady backbeat, Crossley was definitely “on”. And Morales-Matos, surrounded by his instruments  of choice was incredible. 

 

On Sunday, we arrived at the Carhartt Amphitheatre about 5 minutes before the day’s opening act, the Kirk Lightsey-Louis Hayes Trio, featuring Bob Hurst, took the stage. The legendary pianist Lightsey and drummer Hayes, both aged 79 and the “youngster”, 52 year old Hurst is all Detroiters and they really represented.

The group played a mix of standards and originals from members of the trio. Sprightly and lithe, Lightsey still displays the same articulation I remember from his work with Chet Baker. Hayes, as volcanic as ever truly betrayed his age. Hurst, a music professor at the University of Michigan, was as always, ever steady. A very lively, hard driving set from some of Detroit’s finest.  

The evening ended with artist-in-residence, Carter and his trio with Donald Vega on piano and the dexterous Russell Malone on guitar. The Nicaraguan-born Vega, a member of Carter’s regular trio, whether comping or solo, was on fire. Malone, who regularly plays with Carter and Vega to form this team, is also leader of a quartet bearing his name, is a brilliant player in the mode of the hard bop era guitarists, Green, Burrell, Montgomery. Carter, as usual defying age was masterful.

 

A big shout to festival chair and Mack Avenue Records founder, Gretchen Carhartt Valade and Chris Collins, artistic director for doing what they do every year, outperform the previous year. I’ve been to 5 of the past 6 years of the Detroit Jazz Festival and this was the best yet. Can’t wait for 2017!!