gram JAZZ PROMOTING AND NURTURING JAZZ IN CHICAGO NOVEMBER 2019 WWW.JAZZINCHICAGO.ORG MUHAL'S JAZZ PROGENY CELEBRATE HIS LEGACY - AND THE FUTURE OF JAZZ! JAZZCITY 2019: A JOURNEY THROUGH JAZZ - PLAY IT FORWARD NOVEMBER 1 AT 7PM Hamilton Park | 513 W. 72nd St. KEYBOARDIST JUSTIN DILLARD STUDIED with Muhal Richard Abrams, one of the dedicatees of JazzCity’s Nov. 1 show at Hamilton Park for only a short time. And the lessons that Dillard learned from the late avant-gardist and AACM legend can't always be easily detected in his handsome mainstream sound. But when you're around an artist and educator of Abrams’ stature, you absorb more than you may think, whatever stylistic direction you choose. “He was a very quiet, humble cat,” said Dillard. “Sometimes, he could be very particular in pointing things out. At other times, he could be quite aloof. But whenever you were in his presence, you couldn’t help but be inspired to reach higher.” Having played with such stellar AACM ensembles as Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble, Ernest Dawkins’ Chicago 12 and the Kahil El’Zabar Quartet, Dillard is Foster James by Photo Justin Dillard. right at home with the AACM’s untethered, "roots to the future" approach. That will be evident at Hamilton Park, Marvel Comics character Loki: "Freedom is life’s great where he will lead an ensemble stacked with notables lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know from that South Side institution: Edwin Daugherty on peace." alto saxophone, Steve Berry on trombone, Junius Paul Ultimately, of course, it is the freedom to filter all on bass and Vincent Davis on drums. kinds of sounds through his sensibility that makes for But, as the West Side native put it, "I'm a real the most personal and exciting music. "All the great stickler for tradition." As a pianist, he is most strongly artists I have been lucky to know, from Von [Freeman] influenced by mainstream greats including McCoyT yner to Nicole [Mitchell] have shown that once you master and Oscar Peterson. As a Hammond B-3 organist, an tradition, first, you can go on to do anything." instrument he has been playing with greater frequency in The concert is dedicated to three distinguished recent times, he most looks up to the work of Dr. Lonnie founders of the Jazz Institute of Chicago: Muhal Richard Smith, Jack McDuff and Jimmy McGriff. Abrams, critic and author Terry Martin and record label And what of free jazz? Laughing, Dillard quotes the head Chuck Nessa. n JAZZCITY is a free concert series initiated in 1997 by the Jazz Institute in collaboration with the Chicago Park District, now in its 22nd season of bringing people together from across the city to listen to Chicago’s top jazz musicians. JazzCity is sponsored by WDCB 90.9 FM and WHPK 88.5 FM Radio and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information visit www. Jazzinchicago.org or call 312-427-1676 JAZZ IN CHICAGO NOVEMBER 2019 2 RICHARD JOHNSon’S SOLO PIANO PERFORMANCE PIQUES WITHOUT VALLEYS AT THE HYDE PARK JAZZ FEST By Corey Hall TWO MICROPHONES HOVER ABOVE THE Steinway piano’s intestines. One man settles down at its 88 keys. His hands glide into the stride that is “Royal Garden Blues.” This song, composed by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams in 1919, served as a natural opener to Richard Johnson’s solo piano performance at this year’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Johnson, a native Pittsburgher who relocated to Chicago three years ago, discovered that his new digs were less than a mile away from the song’s referenced location. Johnson – whose credentials include extended stays in ensembles led by Wynton Marsalis and Russell Malone, among many others – then acknowledged Mulgrew Miller by playing “From Day to Day,” the title track from the late pianist’s 1990 trio album with Robert Richard Johnson Hurst and Kenny Washington. “I still hear that original recording in my mind while adding whatever different things I can to it,” he said, “He was a great teacher and just a great guy. He during a post-gig discussion with the Jazz Gram. “I showed me lots of stuff,” Johnson said. “There was wanted to pay tribute and do it right. That’s what I was always a party at his house with great food. The fact that concerned about.” he was so welcoming was a very big deal to me.” Do you ever feel the person you’re paying tribute to After introducing “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” Edgar on the stage with you? Sampson’s 1934 love jones to the historic Harlem joint, “Not when I’m playing a gig, but when I’m practicing Johnson gave some attention to the clarinet perched I try certain things,” said Johnson, whose self-created patiently before the piano. Reach Afar program exposes youth to hip hop I always heard that playing the clarinet is so damn elements in jazz. “Their aura is still in my mind. I think difficult. about what they would do, what they might not do, “That’s what everybody says,” replied Johnson, whose information they passed on, and I make adjustments as appointment as U.S. Musical Ambassador led him to tour well.” Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East. On “Blessed Assurance,” the 1873 spiritual composed “That’s why I started playing it. I wanted to see how by Knapp and Crosby and arranged for this performance difficult. What did you think of how I played it?” by Johnson, listeners learned about his upbringing and It was cool. Took folks by surprise. But it did talk the habanero. Johnson grew up hearing his father play back and squeak a little bit. piano in the church, and he learned habanero from “Yeah. That’s because it had been sitting (on the stage pianist Danilo Perez. Johnson’s arrangement employed ignored) for an hour or two.” the habanero as its catalyst. Just imagine one beat per Johnson closed his hit by delivering a vocal on an syllable, as Johnson explained: original, “Beans and Rice,” from his album Here I Am. The top three beats/syllables: “How are you?” While his hands massaged this tune’s gentle melody, his This is followed by the bottom two beats/syllables: feet – encased in black socks that rocked the Batman “I’m fine!” logo – kept the swing easy in relaxed twine time. Here’s Lesson learned, soloist led his attendees to clap along a helping: with him on the selected spaces. This collaborative hand “I like my beans and rice/I like my beans with spice/ jive reminded Johnson about the warmth Perez and his Like in the navy/give me some gravy/I got to have my family gifted to him. beans and rice!” n. JAZZ IN CHICAGO NOVEMBER 2019 3 ISAIAH COLLIER CELEBRATES JOHN COltRANE AT THE JAZZ SHOWCASE By Rahsaan Clark Morris ON A SUNDAY EVENING IN EARLY OCTOBER AT THE JAZZ SHOWCASE, Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Isaiah Collier at the Chicago Jazz Festival 2019. Few played a set dedicated to the spirituality and dynamism of the John Coltrane Quartet. This particular configuration of the Chosen Few, where Collier consistently presents some of the best players from the South Side, included Justin Dillard on piano, Jeremiah Hunt on bass, and the veteran drummer Vincent Davis pushing out the figures on his drum kit on tunes like Coltrane’s “Dear Lord” and other cerebral/visceral stunners. The band would start out most of the tunes in a conventional way, as in the beginning of “Transition”, from the posthumously released album of the same name, with the band playing the “theme” of the tune as intro and then breaking off into individual thematic explorations. In this case, the soloist to start was Dillard who admirably showed off the style of playing that Coltrane’s pianist McCoy Tyner was known for: long- extended runs on the keys, punctuated by block chords and Photo by James Foster bass note downbeats. Then Collier would enter, in this case on tenor saxophone, taking off from the already high plain same, the emotional feeling by Wyatt was sufficient to carry that Dillard had left, and propelling the music forward. As her through, and her “comping” behind the soloists was Collier upped the intensity, the support from Hunt and competent. Davis opened up the music wider and wider. And just when Surveying the room at the Showcase during the first set, you’d think there would be a breaking point, the music I could see many diverse groups of young people – good to would expand ever wider. Then the band would somehow see – and I thought to myself, Isaiah is doing these young find its way back to the theme to finish off where it had folks a favor. He is actually showing this audience what started, but you felt you had gone on a journey, and only it was like to experience the fire and spiritual integrity of you as a listener would be able to tell what journey you had Coltrane’s group sets circa 1963-66. It’s one thing to watch individually been on. a video of Coltrane in performance from that period, but Collier and the group also gave an overview of the another thing altogether to experience the music live. I other styles of music that Coltrane and his Quartet were never saw Coltrane’s band live but I heard many recordings proficient in. T hey had actually started the set with the of live performances and as I pointed out before, as the solemnity of “Dear Lord”, mirroring once again the way band expanded its sound, it expanded my experience and ‘Trane would mix Gospel music with the sweetness of his therefore my consciousness.