April has been a great month for live jazz in Atlanta. This month alone, I saw college big band performances at Georgia State University, Morehouse College, and Emory University (you can read about the GSU and Morehouse concerts here, I'll write more about Emory later in this jazz blog entry). I was also extremely fortunate to have attended a concert at Spellman College featuring jazz pianist, Geri Allen, in a trio setting. Hearing Geri Allen play in any setting is a delight in itself, but in this case she was joined by the legendary jazz drummer, Jimmy Cobb. For those who don't know, Jimmy Cobb has played the drums on dozens of landmark jazz recordings, including Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue, and Giant Steps. It was definitely a night to remember.
In addition to the concerts mentioned above, I was also able to see a couple of great Atlanta jazz trumpeters performing around town. Trumpeter and vocalist Joe Gransden performed as part of the nearby Oakhurst community jazz nights. Joe is a great jazz musician, but even more importantly for these types of events, he's really good with a crowd. He keeps the mood light with jokes, brief anecdotes, and the sort of charm you'd expect from a member of the original rat pack. While this type of rapport isn't necessary for every type of gig, it's definitely a great skill if you're looking to make a living as a jobbing musician. By jobbing, I mean weddings, corporate events, parties, etc. For these events, your ability to "work" a crowd might be the difference between getting a callback or not.
The other Atlanta-area jazz trumpeter I saw this month was Melvin Jones. He led one of the new Wednesday jam sessions at the Slice restaurant near Georgia State University. I have to say, while Melvin has always been a strong player, the past few times I've heard him play, he's sounded so good it's downright scary. Sometimes when I hear other trumpeters play, I'll think "In a few years time, maybe I'll sound that good." Well, Melvin has official crossed into "I'll never sound THAT good" territory! If you're ever in the Atlanta area, I strongly encourage you to check him out.
April also featured other great Atlanta jazz events, including the Future of Jazz competition. The winner, saxophonist Ron James, will be performing in this year's Atlanta Jazz Festival.
EMORY UNIVERSITY JAZZ FESTIVAL
As I mentioned earlier, I recently attended a big band concert at Emory University. The concert was part of Emory's annual jazz festival and the featured artist was one of my favorite jazz pianists, the great Kenny Barron. During his career, Kenny has recorded with many legendary jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Hutcherson, Stanley Turrentine, James Moody, and Elvin Jones. One of my favorite albums with Kenny Barron as a sideman happens to be Booker Ervin's "Tex Book Tenor", with jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw.
Like Jon Hendricks and Wessell Anderson before him, Kenny Barron also participated in a couple of masterclasses at Emory University, both of which were free and open to the public. I attended both events and was treated to some outstanding playing by Kenny Barron and even a wonderful piano duet by Kenny Barron and Gary Motley. There wasn't a lot of discussion at either masterclass, so I don't really have enough material to write a dedicated post, but the tidbits that I found interesting included the fact that Kenny didn't have any formal jazz instruction (he did have classical piano instruction, however). He learned jazz piano totally by listening to recordings and performances. Kenny also mentioned how when he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band (Kenny's first big break), there wasn't any written music. Kenny had to figure it all out by ear. He went on to explain that that's how people learned jazz back then. It was yet another endorsement of the importance of solid aural skills amongst jazz musicians.
Emory's jazz program is relatively new. It's only been a few years now that they've even had a big band at all. With that in mind, it's really impressive how much they continue to improve each year. The band sounded better than ever, and they featured some very good soloists, particularly in their saxophone section.
Next year should be another great year for the Emory University jazz program. At the end of the big band concert, the director of jazz programs at Emory, Gary Motley, announced that next year's featured artists will include the Yellowjackets (not quite my cup of tea, but obviously very popular) and legendary jazz saxophonist, Benny Golson. Emory will also feature a third artist, but Gary's still working on that one.
