Chris Botti.(Illustration by Pat Crowley)
By Bill Meredith
South Florida’s creative jazz concert calendar is always a case of feast or famine, and there’s usually more of a feast south of Palm Beach County.
That’s partly because there’s a stronger jazz nightclub presence in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas than on the practically nonexistent West Palm Beach scene. And while the Kravis Center is every bit the equal of the performing arts centers in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, its jazz bookings may be even more geared toward retirees who still cling to the genre’s swing era.
So jazz isn’t exactly thriving in South Florida, but it still has a pulse in the tri-county area thanks to a few organizations, venues and college campuses. And if you know where to look in Palm Beach County, the 2010-2011 seasonal spread isn’t bad.
Savannah-based guitarist and vocalist Bobby Lee Rodgers straddled jazz, bluegrass and pop for nearly a decade with his band The Codetalkers (co-led by another Georgia-based genre-straddler, Col. Bruce Hampton) before deciding to continue his solo career last year. On his own, Rodgers is no less amoebic, playing a hollow-bodied guitar through a rotating Leslie cabinet that’s most often used with a Hammond organ. He’s put his focus on jazz in a six-month series of tributes that first paid homage to Miles Davis last month. Future nods include John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, and Rodgers salutes guitar great Wes Montgomery on Oct. 28 at the Green Room in Fort Lauderdale (7 p.m., $15).
Troy Andrews’ alter ego is Trombone Shorty, but both personalities are steeped in New Orleans history. Andrews was born and raised in the Treme neighborhood of the city’s 6th Ward – the oldest African-American neighborhood in the United States. Equally proficient on trombone or trumpet, he and his band Orleans Avenue (with guitarist Pete Murano, saxophonist Dan Oestreicher, bassist Mike Ballard, drummer Joey Peebles and percussionist Dwayne Williams) will play songs from their major-label debut CD Backatown (itself a nickname for the area where he grew up) on Nov. 5 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale (8 p.m., $14.99).
The Yellowjackets.The Yellowjackets are a California quartet that has straddled jazz sub-genres for nearly 30 years. Most of its albums lean toward the smooth jazz side of original keyboardist Russell Ferrante; most live shows toward the fusion expertise of original bassist Jimmy Haslip. Longtime saxophonist Bob Mintzer is adept at both, and muscular drummer Will Kennedy (who played with the group on some of its best studio efforts from 1986-1998) has returned. The Yellowjackets recently signed to record with Mack Avenue Records, and are likely to premiere material from a forthcoming CD on Nov. 11 at the Harriet Himmel Theater, located within CityPlace in West Palm Beach (8 p.m., $35).
With his Latin influence, acoustic jazz and electric fusion recordings, and solo-to-full band performances, keyboardist Chick Corea has practically decorated a wing of jazz history by himself. The former Miles Davis sideman has a 45-year recording career, and in 2009 alone released three stellar CDs – Duet (his series of live duets with Japanese pianist Hiromi), Returns (the live reunion of his 1970s fusion band Return To Forever), and the Grammy-winning Five Peace Band (co-led by guitarist John McLaughlin, another Davis alum). Corea plays a solo piano show on Nov. 20 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Miniaci Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Nova Southeastern University in Davie (8 p.m., $50-$150).
Ken Peplowski.
The clarinet’s potency has waned since the swing era, but Ken Peplowski is one of the few who can breathe life back into it. The expert reedman has worked with Woody Herman, Louie Bellson, Clark Terry and Ray Brown, and was endorsed by vocalist Mel Tormé. “Since the advent of Benny Goodman, there have been too few clarinetists to fill the void,” Tormé said. “Ken Peplowski is certainly one of those few. The man is magic.” See Peplowski (with pianist Shelly Berg) recall Goodman, Artie Shaw and more in the Gold Coast Jazz presentation Dynamos of Jazz on Dec. 8 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater in Fort Lauderdale (7:45 p.m., $35-$40).
Arturo Sandoval‘s life reads like a movie script – to the 2000 HBO film For Love or Country, to be exact. Andy Garcia portrayed the Cuban trumpeter, who went from a Dizzy Gillespie protégé in his native country to an exile (during a tour of the United States in 1990) and a U.S. citizen in 1999. Now based in Los Angeles, Sandoval has earned four Grammys and an Emmy Award, and his latest release is the burning Arturo Sandoval Live DVD. He performs Dec. 30 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Dreyfoos Concert Hall in West Palm Beach (8 p.m., $15-$85).
Christian McBride.Few modern bassists have the dexterity of Christian McBride. The 38-year-old Philadelphian defied his youth to become the top acoustic session bassist in jazz through the 1990s, then occasionally went back to his original instrument – electric bass – over the past decade. His genre-bending recording and touring resume includes work with McCoy Tyner, Sting, Kathleen Battle, Diana Krall, Pat Metheny, and Chaka Khan. McBride and Inside Straight (with pianist Eric Reed, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Carl Allen) perform songs from their Kind of Brown CD on Jan. 8 in a South Florida Jazz presentation at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center (8 p.m., $40).
Rim Shots: An Evening with the Jeff Hamilton Trio gives a modern behind-the-scenes drumming great a chance to headline. Hamilton also co-leads the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with bassist John Clayton, and has a deep recording discography that includes sessions with everyone from Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, Rosemary Clooney and Diana Krall to Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole and Queen Latifah. The Jeff Hamilton Trio (which includes pianist Tamir Hendelman and bassist Christoph Luty) performs pieces from its latest CD, Symbiosis, on Jan. 12 in a Gold Coast Jazz presentation at the Amaturo Theater (7:45 p.m., $35-$40).
A jazz ukulele player? Don’t laugh. Jake Shimabukuro has taken the four-stringed, two-octave instrument to levels that Don Ho never envisioned. The 33-year-old Hawaii native’s latest CD, Live, features his far-reaching original compositions and covers that include Bach’s Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D Minor, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Shimabukuro has also recorded and performed with Bela Fleck, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Buffett, Cyndi Lauper, and Yo-Yo Ma. See him on Jan. 19 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Rinker Playhouse in West Palm Beach (7:30 p.m., $32).
Like fellow keyboard icons Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett emerged from trumpeter Miles Davis’ late 1960s-early 1970s jazz/fusion ensembles. But while the others stayed with electronic keyboards to varying degrees, nearly all of the 65-year-old Jarrett’s subsequent recordings have featured acoustic piano. Equally brilliant playing jazz or classical music, many of Jarrett’s best CDs since the early 1980s have been with his long-standing “standards trio” (with bassist Gary Peacock and another Davis alum, Jack DeJohnette, on drums). The influential pianist’s trio will take standards to new levels Jan. 21 at the Adrienne Arsht Center (8 p.m., $25-$130).
Norman Simmons.
Norman Simmons’ playing is steeped in Chicago jazz tradition, but he’s otherwise no Second City pianist. The 81-year-old has shifted between the Windy City and New York City to work with an array of renowned vocalists (Ernestine Anderson, Joe Williams, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, Anita O’Day) and saxophonists (Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny Griffin). More recently, Simmons has collaborated with Houston Person, another veteran sax titan who’s five years his junior. Person joins Simmons and his trio in a Jazz Arts Music Society (JAMS) of the Palm Beaches presentation on Jan.25 at the Harriet Himmel Theater (8 p.m., $35).
Roget Pontbriand.Roget Pontbriand has been one of South Florida’s top trumpeters for decades, and has even unearthed his soft, Chet Baker-like vocals on occasion. For the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches presentation of Some Like It Hot, he’ll leave the singing to Dorothy Yanes, the acclaimed classical and pops soprano. The show celebrates the golden anniversary of the music of the Big Band era. See Some Like It Hot on Feb. 5 at the Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth (7:30 p.m., $15), and on Feb. 12 at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens (7:30 p.m., $15).
Music is a family affair for vocalist/guitarist John Pizzarelli. His father is Bucky Pizzarelli, the venerable guitarist who’s been revered since the swing era. Brother Martin Pizzarelli plays bass on tour with the singer/guitarist, who’s built a 25-year career as a master interpreter of standards. And Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart helped to define those standards with gems from My Funny Valentine to The Lady Is a Tramp. Pizzarelli’s quartet (which also includes pianist Larry Fuller and drummer Tony Tedesco) plays on Feb. 8 in a Bob Lappin and the Palm Beach Pops presentation of An Evening of Rodgers and Hart at the Eissey Campus Theatre (8 p.m., $75-$85).
Perhaps it’s only the surplus of female jazz vocalists that’s kept California-based Jackie Ryan from becoming a household name. With her three-and-a-half octave range and Mexican, French, Irish and Spanish ancestry, Ryan sings standards in English, Spanish and Portuguese. She also writes and performs vocalese lyrics to jazz classics, and has a recent release that showcases her range. Doozy is an adventurous double-CD featuring musicians like guitarist Romero Lubambo and pianist Cyrus Chestnut on cuts from Benny Carter’s title track to Leonard Bernstein’s Some Other Time. Ryan performs her This Heart of Mine show on Feb. 9 at the Amaturo Theater (7:45 p.m., $35-$40).
Celebrating Miles is more than just another Miles Davis tribute. The two-part concert spotlights both the trumpeter’s early acoustic and latter electric sides, each with one of Davis’ great bassists from the two respective eras. During the “Acoustically Speaking” set, trumpeter Wallace Roney and his sextet are featured, along with bassist Ron Carter (from Davis’ mid-1960s quintet). Roney has carried the torch by playing a trumpet given to him by Davis himself in 1983. “Tutu Revisited” features young trumpet lion Christian Scott playing with bassist Marcus Miller, architect of Davis’ 1986 fusion gem Tutu. See Celebrating Miles on Feb. 25 at the Adrienne Arsht Center (8 p.m., $25-$130).
We Four: Celebrating John Coltrane is a special tribute not only because it honors the titan of tenor saxophonists, but also because of the four participants. Drummer Jimmy Cobb, still going strong at age 82, played with Coltrane in Miles Davis’ late 1950s band, including on the seminal Kind of Blue album. Tenor sax player Javon Jackson played with drummer Elvin Jones, of ‘Trane’s A Love Supreme fame. Pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Peter Washington toured with drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, providing countless other connections. The quartet honors Coltrane’s legacy in a South Florida Jazz presentation on March 12 at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center (8 p.m., $40).
Trumpeter Chris Botti‘s rare combination of talent and matinee-idol looks have made him a superstar. Few others have played muted trumpet as well since Miles Davis, and Botti is at home doing so within the contexts of jazz, pop and classical music. On his latest CD, Chris Botti in Boston, the trumpeter blends them all together. The live disc features guest appearances by Sting, Yo-Yo Ma, Katharine McPhee and John Mayer, all with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra and Botti’s quintet members Billy Childs (piano), Robert Hurst (bass), Billy Kilson (drums) and Mark Whitfield (guitar). See Botti on March 17 at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall (8 p.m., $25-$100).
Remembering Chet Baker honors a trumpeter/vocalist who missed out on the legacy his talent warranted. After a successful solo career and work with Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, Baker (who often battled substance abuse) fell to his death out of a hotel window in the Netherlands at age 58. But between trumpeter Bobby Shew (who’s worked with the Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich orchestras) and singing pianist John Proulx (who released a CD last year called Baker’s Dozen: Remembering Chet Baker), Baker’s spectrum of introspective-to-fiery playing and breathy vocals is covered. He’s remembered on March 22 at the Harriet Himmel Theater (8 p.m., $35).
Karrin Allyson.Vocalist Karrin Allyson certainly isn’t in Kansas anymore, having left her home state to settle in Nebraska, San Francisco, and now New York City. Her 12 CDs include creative tributes from Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (2001) to Imagina: Songs of Brazil (2008), and her dexterity between rapid-fire scat-singing and expressive ballads has earned three Grammy nominations. She’ll perform with the trio led by Shelly Berg (who’s both a talented pianist and dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami) on March 26 in the Jazz Arts Music Society’s annual fundraising dinner concert at Falls Country Club in Lake Worth (6:30 p.m., $85 for members, $95 for non-members).