CD Review: Frank Carlberg/Uncivilized Ruminations

Year: 2011

Record Label: Red Piano Records

Style: Meditations on Contemporary American and European Poetry with Music.

Musicians: Frank Carlberg - Piano; Christine Correa - Voice; John O'Gallagher - Saxophone; Chris Cheek - Tenor Saxophone; John Hebert - Bass; Michael Sarin - Drums.

Label: Red Piano Records.
 

Review: The commingling of music with poetry in not a rare tradition. It has been a popular form of expression for poets and musicians for centuries. What is rare, once this eclectic mixture of modes is explored, is achieving a result that is ultimately satisfying to the poet, capturing the essence of the poet's meaning, and creating an experience of understanding and enjoyment by the listener. In this case, the tools of jazz being utilized add a layer of emotional comfort and familiarity suited for a listener's burgeoning curiosity.

Frank Carlberg & Christine Correa
Photo courtesy: Petermcdowell.com

Frank Carlberg's "Uncivilized Ruminations" seems to fulfill these requirements. He puts his shoulder firmly to a series of musical doors; the first one pushes into a darkness that has a deleterious effect on the human soul; one conceals a wide range of moods and another, that he intones is, "succinct, funny and thought provoking all at once." The voice of Christine Correa is employed as the medium through which the listener gains visual/aural entrance to these spaces. She illuminates with a flawless pitch range that sharply defines the dark/light; effectively using repetition as a highlight to pinpoint mood changes. Carlberg's pianism often provides an uncluttered, moving contrast affording the saxophones of John O'Gallagher and Chris Cheek space to smooth out the contour's edges and add color of their own. The result is a reasoned balance of  the poets' and musicians' voices; the listener being the beneficiary of a blissfully rewarding cross-pollination of talents.



It starts with 'the text from an article in a medical journal published in 1852,' and here, called "Lunacy." A slow opus depicting a spoken, unreasonable, inexorable, sweetly decadent descent into the domain of the irrational. A domain that is immutable; permeating society; our society, unadulterated and cloaked in unsavory 'political events, then crime, remorse and despair' all lamented and captured through the realistic rant of voice: Christine Correa, born in India, but now residing in New York City, has impeccable intonation and a sincerely eloquent delivery that is tailored to give freshness and legitimacy to these streams of thought. In "Lunacy" she injects an uneven vocal urgency that creeps into the consciousness like a mysterious malady, slowly and barely noticeable in the beginning, then repeating itself, until full blown and final. Saxophonists Chris Cheek and John O'Gallagher provide a measure of aural sanity as a backdrop to Correa's jagged, non-explicit, repetitive commentary, with a reasoned coherence in their attack. To further strengthen the idea of good therapy as an antidote, Carlberg's piano is insistent but not overwhelming with sincere, cool ideas in accompaniment, while Michael Sarin's drumming understands the need for, and provides unfettered movement through a succession of complex expressions and terrifying moods.

The rest of the work is divided into the poems of Finnish poets Anselm Hollo, Kai Nieminen and American Jim Gustafson. There are three tunes set to Anselm Hollo's poems: Four to Kai Nieminen and one to Jim Gustafson.

Anselm Hollo's style is strongly influenced by American beat poets Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. This is starkly reflected in Frank Carlberg's musical interpretation of his poems. Hollo's work seems to inspire a narrative. The melodic, rhythmic and harmonic elements grow the music to a climax.

Kai Nieminen, apart from being a poet, is also a translator of Japanese literature. Carlberg's musical reading of his work is non-narrative, with an attitude and temperament that tends toward angularity and jaggedness, but is still energetic and captivating. This makes for an adventurous, discerning, surprisingly enjoyable experience for the listener.

Anselm Hollo's work is presented on track 2: "It was all about..."; track 8: "Prairie Dogs"; and track 9: "Pygmy Hut." In each of these pieces Correa's voice is inspiring, appealing and at times melodic. On "It was all about..." Carlberg plays an especially beautifully simple, meandering solo that contrasts effectively with Correa's dark, insistent recurring opening lines as the horns energize the scene with bright playful colors. On "Prairie Dogs" Correa's voice starts with brisk humor and then settles into a chant that is repetitive, new, and gives a freshness to the piece, but the music has dark foreboding colors painted by John Hebert's deliberate, elegiac-like opening bass lines. Carlberg's piano is tentative, searching, but not rambling. Michael Sarin's adds to the subdued atmosphere with drumming that is dirge-like.The roles are then reversed between voice and piano on "Pygmy Hut," Carlberg's piano is haunting, dark; Correa presents a beautiful contrast of light and brisk lines. The saxes cast even illumination to the edges, with main stream, solid, jazzy colors. With Hollo's poems, Carlbeg's vertical layering produces a unified art and a cohesiveness of textures that is energetic, stable, and grounded.

Kai Nieminen's work is presented on track 3: "Old Age"; track 4: "Posthumous Success"; track 5: "Misanthrope"; and track 6: "Don't Rush Me." These pieces are freer in style, with less structure, more spontaneous thought-composition; classical strains, and pronounced sombreness that draw out the amazing versatility in the voice of Christine Correa. On "Old Age" Carlberg's piano is noticeably freer in style, the music appears more abstract as it opens with bass and drums. The horns enter the fray but with no discernible melody or structure. However the sound is not cluttered or overbearing and Correa's shows more of her vocal dynamism as another instrument joining the horns in the free flow to the end. The piano starts "Posthumous Success' with a classical sounding set of chords; Correa's voice joins and adds a religious feel; the horns add dark, somber colors to the mix producing a funereal overcast that suspends itself like an unending ominous cloud. "Misanthrope" is an exercise in brisk, free-flowing, spontaneous thought- composition. The lines are angular, jagged, intense and at times wandering and unstable, but becoming strangely coherent as one listens more and more. "Don't Rush Me" has Carlberg playing those dark, deliberate unhurried chords as Correa comes in and transforms it into a sultry ballad, again showing the stunning versatility of her talent. This is the most melodic of  the Nieminen pieces and Carlberg follows it through with a bewitchingly pensive piano to its end.

John Gustafson's "Perfect" track 7, is a perfect standout. It is different in all aspects from everything else. It has a thematic appeal; an almost pop feel, and comes with a decidedly modern jazz bent that is hard to ignore. On it, the band found a perfect opportunity to stretch out, and Correa delivered beautifully articulated, sensual lyrics somewhat reminiscent of vocalists Sade and the late Teena Marie, giving the listener a final tantalizing look into her astonishingly high-caliber vocal arsenal.

Frank Carlberg, Christine Correa and the band have done a stupendous job with this new CD. They have captured the essence of the poets ideas in their music; created an experience for understanding and enjoyment by the listener and I suspect the poets in question ought to be thrilled at the outcome of this venture. Carlberg's music also offers an extra dimension: It challenges the listener's aesthetic discernment by diagramming distinctively profound aspects of his compositional prowess through the works of three separate, uniquely gifted poets.

So, is Frank Carlberg a compositional genius? Maybe!

Track Listing: Lunatics; It was all about...; Old Age; Posthumous Success; Misanthrope; Don't Rush Me; Perfect; Prairie Dogs; Pygmy Hut.



  

Poncho Sanchez: World Heavyweight Conguero Champion...

Poncho Sanchez: Photo courtesy of globedia.com

Latin Jazz Music fever erupted at Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco on May 21 - May 22 (2011), brought on by a visit from 'El Jefe' of the congueros - Poncho Sanchez, and his Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Of course, I was in the house!

Latin Jazz is like a religion to the 'latinos y latinas' populating Northern California - San Francisco especially, and they turned out in droves to hear this Grammy Award winning master conguero and his churning band.

Poncho Sanchez was born in Laredo, Texas and grew up in Los Angeles, California. His musical influences are stoutly eclectic and include Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, James Brown and Wilson Pickett. Sanchez's music is diffused through this rich tapestry of figures and outputs into a vortex of hot whirling colors with rhythms of dazzling ferocity.

Sanchez's drumming submerges itself sonorously deep beneath the band's instrumental harmonies, like a diver seeking pearls, then smoothly breaks to the surface with fists filled with rare gems that percussively decorate the ensemble's melodic structures, hanging in the air like fine jewelry on a beautiful Latina. He is Charles Mingus on Afro-Cuban drums: Impressively strong in fingers, wrists, forearms and shoulders; with stamina to match; the ability to attack the congas with a calculated, relentless fury and hand speed of a pugilist; forcing them to surrender all their vibrant sounds and rhythms with the force of an erupting volcano. Experts who know about these sorts of things, endearingly refer to Mr. Sanchez's drumming style as "sick."

The band includes: Rob Hardt - saxophone/flute: Ron Blake - trumpet/flugelhorn: Francisco Torres - trombone: David Torres - keyboards: Tony Banda - bass: George Ortiz - timbales: Joey De Leon - percussion: Poncho Sanchez - congas.

Sanchez and the gang came out of the gate like jets, with trumpeter Ron Blake, tenor saxophonist Rob Hardt and trombonist Francisco Torres breathing fire. The sold out crowds at this band's shows have come to expect this and as soon as he took over on his congas, the mood of the evening was set: Excitement reigned.

Sanchez then took some time to talk about his apprenticeship in the great Cal Tjader Band, which started in 1975 and lasted for more than seven years. He spoke with deep reverence and respect for Tjader and told the audience that he was with him when he died in the Philippines in 1982.

Tonight was a night of musical tributes, gazing backward and looking forward. Mixed in were sumptuous portions of pungent nostalgia and peppery rhythms.

Sanchez took a look back and simultaneously forward with a tribute to the Latin jazz contributions of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, hinting at the focus of his next CD  which will feature guest trumpeter Terrence Blanchard. The band played "Tin Tin Deo," "Manteca" and "Con Alma," with sparkling trumpet work by Ron Blake, a superb conga drumming display by Sanchez, Joey DeLeon's wizardry on percussion, splashing intricate, striking colors on to the sheets of sound laid out by the horns, while pianist/musical director David Torres pounded the ivories like a modern day John Henry, driving golden chords securely into the pulsating tracks for this Latin jazz juggernaut to propel itself in any direction, at any speed and under any condition.

A cool dip into the 2010 Grammy nominated CD "Psychedelic Blues" brought out refreshing concoctions of Willie Bobo's soulful "I Don't Know" and the spicy "Fried Neckbones and Some Homefries." These Willie Bobo compositions are especially suited for the band and are performed in a languid, soulful, swaying strut that seem to take audiences by the hand and transport them to a time of carefree, easy joy. On this occasion, they also served as an artfully constructed bridge to the classic, uptempo Dizzy Gillespie composition, "Groovin' High," spiced and seasoned by the burning timbales of George Ortiz, and perfectly cooked with a searing Rob Hardt tenor solo.

This group of players engages in very hip 'call and response' musical conversations which are imbued with sophisticated street-wise idioms, and cryptically funneled through their instruments; you get a whiff of them from the musical vignettes they spontaneously create as each player is introduced by name to the audience. It's also funnier than hell!

They perform like a well-oiled machine; changing moods, tempos, colors and rhythms like an efficiently working super-charged transmission. They spun around in this fashion, mesmerizing the increasingly spell-bound crowd until they ran full force into the white hot salsa furnace of "Guaripumpe." This infectious heart-beater got the dancers on their feet, helped by some very sardonic, comic exhortations from bassist Tony Banda.

This is the moment that the band broke through, and Sanchez sensed it. He immediately invoked the spirit of the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, and let loose a torrent of his 60's hits that drove the entire room into a frenzy of 'testifying' and shouting like repentant sinners searching for soul-cleansing salvation. This was intended to be the band's musical 'coup de grace'; to lead to a smooth exit. But the feverish crowd had smelled blood and called for more; they screamed that they were not taking "no" for an answer. So Mr. Sanchez and his band respectfully obliged and returned to the stage with Herbie Hancock's perennial crowd-pleaser, "Watermelon Man." It's sweet, hypnotic, thirst-quenching effect, eventually brought the patrons down to a swaying, controlled, uneventful finale.

The fire was extinguished; until next time!

                                         Watch

Poncho Sanchez Orch: Watermelon Man

Denise Donatelli - An arresting, unforgettable voice ...

It's rare. But it happens. You're barreling down the freeway and suddenly out of your car's sound system pours the voice of a jazz singer you have not heard before, and yet, there is a distinctively familiar quality in the voice that says; you must have. You have to solve this mystery; but the radio station likes to play the game of 'three or four songs in a row' and then reel off a gaggle of names in the back announcement. So you sit there patiently waiting to hear who is this dynamite song stylist. Finally the DJ comes up for air, and gets around to killing the suspense. He gives you plenty rap about record labels, who's playing which instrument, recording dates and venues; he neglects to mention the name you are listening for, and deftly moves on to another music triple-shuffle: You're reduced to pounding on the car's steering wheel in vexed frustration.



There was a charm in the singer's voice that spoke of seduction, vocal poise, cool alluring hipness; she possessed exquisite intonation and a nice expanse of vocal pitch range. I later discovered it all belonged to Denise Donatelli. 

I became one of her fans in a single moment and I was anxious to see and hear this jazz singing siren, up close and personal. But first I checked into who she was and how she got here
.

Denise Donatelli: when lights are low.
CD cover: Photo courtesy of
irom.wordpress.com

Denise Donatelli was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which also gave the jazz world, pianist/composer Keith Jarrett. On the whole, Pennsylvania has produced an impressive mixture of iconic jazz artists: Singer Billie Holiday, saxophonist John Coltrane, The Heath Brothers, drummer Art Blakey, organist Shirley Scott, to name some. With such rich histories and legacies to explore, the glow of excited confidence must wrap itself securely around Donatelli, and clearly outline her chosen career path as a jazz singer.

A current resident of Los Angeles, California, she has been thrilling audiences coast-to- coast. She has made notable appearances at New York's Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, The Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival, Seattle's Bake's Place, Los Angeles' Steamers and Catalina's Jazz Clubs, San Diego's Birch Theatre, Hermosa Beach's Lighthouse Cafe, Northern California's Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Revue and the San Jose Jazz Festival.

Armed with Two Grammy Nominations for her 2010 Savant release, "When Lights Are Low," this critically acclaimed Jazz Singer appeared with pianist/producer/arranger Geoffrey Keezer's trio at Yoshi's Oakland Jazz Club on Sunday May 15, 2011 for a 7:00pm evening concert. This is where I encountered her.  

The day started out with showers and some hail. By evening it had cleared up considerably. It was cool, clear and comfortable; the perfect evening for some fine dining and good music. Since Yoshi's had a spectacular Japanese restaurant in the club, I decided to avail myself of its cuisine and delve into the culinary philosophy of Chef Shotaro 'Sho' Kamio, which is: Seasonal, Simple, Surprise. For the 'Seasonal'  I sampled, wild Atlantic Salmon, grilled on cedar plank, with house made terriyaki sauce, preceded by an appetizer of smoked wagyi beef carpaccio, seared rare with grated dailcon radish and sesame ponzu. The 'Simple' was a bowl of steamed rice, and the 'Surprise' came in the form of a small carafe of warm Junmai Sake. Now! I was ready!


 THE SHOW

The Geoffrey Keezer Trio comprises Hamilton Price on bass; Jon Wickan on drums and Geoffrey Keezer on piano. This is a very dynamic and accomplished group of musicians.

Photo courtesy of
allgoodseats.com

Bassist Hamilton Price was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas and has a B. A. degree in classical double bass performance from the University of Texas at Austin. He has played with many important figures in jazz: Billy Childs, Eric Reed, Joanne Brackeen, Patrice Rushen, Dewey Redman, Ravi Coltrane, Tom Scott, Kevin Mahogany, T. S. Monk, Randy Brecker and more.

Drummer Jon Wickan was born in Petersburg, Alaska, grew up in Seattle. His influences include drummers Tony Williams, Billy Higgins, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones and Victor Lewis. He has worked with Buddy Collette, Mark Murphy, Kurt Elling, Jessica Williams, Karrin Allyson, Pat Labarbra and others.

Pianist Geoffrey Keezer was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. At 18, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He has worked with singer Dianna Krall, saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Christian McBride, pianists Kenny Barron, Chick Corea and collaboratively with pianists Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller. His professional career spans many genres and projects. He is a recipient of Chamber Music America's 2007 New Works Grant. One of his recent musicals, Aurea (2009) is a multinational Afro-Peruvian/Jazz recording project featuring players from New York City and Lima, Peru. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award (Best Latin Jazz Album)

The bona fides of the trio speak for themselves.  

The crowd that attended this show was not large, but it was engaged and appreciative. The trio came first came on stage and warmed up the audience with an uptempo adaptation of Miles Davis' "All Blues." This also allowed the players to unwind after traveling long distances to arrive at the Jazz Club. Denise Donatelli was then introduced to the audience and she immediately took charge of the night. She came out swinging with Harold Arlen's "My Shining Hour" and the trio was ready, they responded with fire, infectious enthusiasm, intense rhythm, and maneuvered the small crowd right into their corner; now it was just a matter of keeping them there.

Donatelli then reached into her Grammy Nominated CD "When Lights are Low" for the title selection, written by the late jazz alto saxophonist Benny Carter. By her account, this was the first time she and the trio performed the tune since the nomination and it was her first visit to Yoshi's. She seemed eager to reach deeper into the lyric. This was one of the selections on which bassist Hamilton Price's warm reassuring bass colors shone  brilliantly through and spread an inviting, seamless, musical palette over which Donatelli's vocal pitch range undulated effortlessly.

For her first ballad of the evening, Donatelli pulled out the evergreen "Never Let Me Go." Becoming more comfortable with herself and the audience after each ballad she sang: Ivan Lins "Kisses," Billie Holiday's haunting "Don't Explain," delivered with a swelling pathos and deep interest in the lyric, and for which, pianist Geoffrey Keezer received a Grammy nomination for 'Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist' category. "Why Did I Choose You" from the Broadway Show "The Yearling." With Keezer's penchant for subtle colors and non-intrusive piano accompaniment, Donatelli simply sang from her spirit, her heart, her experience, her feeling-center; eschewing cluttered, distracting histrionics. She ended each ballad with the tenderness of a mother's lullaby coaxing an infant to sleep. Her forte is cemented in the ballad, each one executed with flawless clarity, and artfully shaped to emerge as a collective highlight of the evening's performance.

Donatelli was generous and gracious to the trio, she allowed them lots of opportunity and space to stretch out during her uptempo numbers; especially drummer Jon Wickan, whose attack was sustained, relentless and sharp whenever he found openings on Rogers and Hart's intriguing "I Wish I Were in Love Again," Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn's catchy "It's You or No One" or, the evening's finale, Cedar Walton's wonderful "Enchantment (Firm Roots)" with lyrics by John and Paula Hackett. Donatelli further displayed a singularly delightful touch of transforming her voice into a harmonious, malleable instrument that synced beautifully with Keezer's piano to add verve to the coda of each standard.

It was a pity more people did not turn out to see Denise Donatelli on this night; to enjoy a memorable performance of wonderful songs that seemed to be written just for her. She swung with an impish flair; interpreted the ballad with disarming fluency; was at ease and in control at any tempo. She is a refreshingly convivial warbler and a talent to watch. She and the Geoffrey Keezer Trio are not to be missed.

                                         Watch

Singer: Denise Donatelli

The Jazz Crusaders...

Wayne Henderson-Joe Sample-Wilton Felder

The dictionary defines "Crusader" as: Any vigorous, aggressive movement for the defense or advancement of an idea or cause. When I learned The Jazz Crusaders were set to appear at Yoshi's Oakland California Jazz Club, May 5-8, 2011, I immediately made reservations to attend one of the shows.

I have been a rabid fan of these 'crusaders' going all the way back to the 1960's and 70's. Now that they had regrouped after almost 30 years of separation, I was eager to see if they were still vigorous, aggressive, and able to advance their unique blend of R&B, gospel, street-wise, funky, soul-struttin' jazz; more than anything, I wanted to find out if they still made me want 'to get up and dance.'

The core of the band, with the exception drummer Nesbert "Stix" Hooper was intact. Pianist Joe Sample; Saxophonist Wilton Felder; Trombonist Wayne Henderson, seasoned, elder statesmen in contemporary jazz, comprised that core, and had at their disposal, a stunning body of catalogued material to mine.

Now, it was only a matter of turning up at the venue: Them and me!

The Jazz Crusaders had tons of hits in the 60's and early 70's. It seems that for each savvy Jazz Crusader audiophile, there was that single memorable, visceral, recording that always played itself somewhere deep in the psyche. In truth, I have never heard anyone put down any record they made. Actually, I don't think they ever made a 'bad' record. The recording that has stayed with me over the years, the one that epitomized what The Jazz Crusaders articulated 'back in the day' was "Street Life" featuring vocalist Randy Crawford.





THE SHOW

YOSHI'S JAZZ CLUB, JACK LONDON SQ., OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

MAY 07, 2011

Saturday May 7, 2011 was a glorious spring day in Northern California, it was almost picture perfect. It could not possibly have gotten any better; but it did. It turned into a scintillating night for all those who got into Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland to hear the Jazz Crusaders play their special brand of music.

A sold out crowd of all ages, descended on the club  in full splendor and colors; blacks, browns, whites, yellows, all colors in between; all blues; all hues. The sartorial elegance of this gathering belied the current depressing economic conditions of the City and State. They came to take a look back at a time when things were different and better. Some came to bear witness to a missive of hope for the future from a group of trusted crusading messengers; some for a brief respite from harsh reality; some just to have a good 'ole time.' When it was all over, they all got whatever they came for.

The atmosphere in the room was buzzing; electric; when the members of the band walked onto the stage and launched themselves onto "Broadway," a medium tempo, easily recognizable tune, which had been a staple in their impressive musical repertoire long before George Benson drove it through the pop stratosphere . Wayne Henderson struck a match of nostalgia as he took the first trombone solo, and Wilton Felder's tenor lit the flame as he followed. The 'Sound' was there; intact; the collective timbre, rich and inscrutable; the audience knew immediately what kind of a night this was going to be.

Wayne Henderson made the all important connection as M. C. with the audience: He delivered the sermon to the congregation. Pianist Joe Sample shared this duty, adding color and historical background information regarding their emerging musical experiences as kids in Texas, leading up to the eventual formation of the band. The audience could identify; they were put at ease; musician and jazz fan became 'one.'

The real "groove" was set in motion with the second selection they chose; an original composition called "Sunset Mountain" which was tailor-made for Felder's tenor sax to soar and  suspend itself like a powerful bald eagle effortlessly navigating tricky, high altitude wind currents. On the next selection, Henderson got to showcase the even-toned, uniquely raspy sound of his trombone, with it upturned bell - a la Dizzy Gillespie's famous trumpet - as he took on a walking gulf coast blues number cryptically named "The Thing."

Homage was paid to Nesbert "Stix" Hooper, a founding member of the original Crusaders, when his slow tempo composition "Night Theme" was introduced by Sample's searching, poignant piano artistry, with Henderson casting a nostalgic glance backward on the muted trombone, allowing the audience to pull back ever so slightly from its own elevated sense of expectation, and settle snugly into the moment. Nick Sample, Joe Sample's son, added a warm, room-absorbing, melodic bass to Night Theme, exercising an impressive control of tone and volume that did not go unnoticed by the attentive patrons in the house.

And then came "Hard Times," according to Wayne Henderson, a tune from the 'chitlin circuit' that stretched from the New York's Apollo Theatre to the Regal in Chicago, and was thought to be a product of the genius Ray Charles, but turned out to be written by "some white guy in New York." The music was having a visible effect on the audience; the room began to talk to itself; some folks could not resist the urge to exchange pleasantries with others seated near them, even if they had never met that person before; tonight, no one was a stranger; they were all victims of their own excited desires; swept up in an electrifying musical flight of fancy. A strikingly beautiful woman sitting in front of me, who admitted that this was her first time seeing and hearing the Jazz Crusaders, leaned back and moaned in my ear, "they know just how to hit it and back it down." Meanwhile, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson calmly delivered the message, like revivalists at a prayer meeting.

Just when I thought the evening's musical apogee had been reached, Wayne Henderson announced "Snowflake." On cue, another young woman seated behind me beamed, "I Love Snowflake," I should have been warned. Snowflake had a languid Latin-Caribbean tempo and flavor, that is, until the drummer, Doug Belote, a native of New Orleans, got out of his cage looking to rumble. He managed to squeeze every tempo, sound and rhythm out of his drum kit that it was capable of producing, and I suspect, some that were not within its realm. He raised the tension in the room, relaxed it, raised it some more, relaxed it, and with each change of tempo, the room's pent up energy would swell to breaking point and then subside, then swell again. I saw Henderson and Felder each make attempts to find spots to come in, but Belote was having none of it, he was like a rookie, called up from the minors, pitching a wild-eyed, shutout no-hitter. Eventually, Joe Sample rode in on his trusty keyboard and tactfully came to the crowd's rescue, before any one could expire from the effects of mixing sheer exuberance with heightened suspense. Doug Belote had come within a few heart beats literally, of bringing the house down.

The audience was left scratching its collective heads after "Snowflake" and ironically that was the name of the next selection. "Scratch." This was a funky gospel offering that turned the entire congregation into a sea of bobble-headed screamers, swaying intoxicatedly to Wilton Felder's bewitching, syrupy tenor, juxtaposed against Henderson's brassy, insistent flugelhorn. To end it, Sample served up some soulful rocking chords as the horns trailed off smoothly into soft silence.

A vivid portrait of the 1979 hit "Street Life" was then painted by the horn of Wilton Felder, forcing 'girlfriend' seated behind me, to shout out; "Oh yeah! You play it boy!" I made a mental note to really pay attention this time. Fortunately, without Randy Crawford to ignite a conflagration, the atmosphere remained cool, and I eased back off the edge of my seat.

The final tune of the concert was the crowd pleasing, "Way Back Home," a soulful, funky, down-home strut, that served as a perfect cap to the night's entertainment. As it grooved to a close, the crowd got to its feet and applauded in unison, not so much, I thought, for an encore, even though they were some calls for one, but more to welcome back The Jazz Crusaders to the music scene. On this night, they proved themselves true to their code: Vigorous and aggressive in the advancement of their cause.

And yes! They did make me want to get up and dance again!

The beautiful woman seated in front of me summed it all up perfectly: "They may be old guys, but they have the energy of kids at play!"