[JPL] Walking a Tightrope at a Jazz Competition

[r durfee]

October 31, 2007
Music
Walking a Tightrope at a Jazz Competition 
By NATE CHINEN
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 — The Thelonious Monk Institute
of Jazz wrapped up its 20th annual jazz competition on
Sunday night with an emblematic scene. At the Kodak
Theater in Hollywood the institute’s chairman, Herbie
Hancock, sported a shoulder-slung synthesizer and a
high-wattage smile. He was leading an all-star group
through the opening salvo from his album “Head
Hunters,” one of the best-selling jazz titles of all
time. 

Close behind him onstage were three trumpeters:
Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove, judges in this
year’s contest, which focused on their instrument, and
Ambrose Akinmusire, the 25-year-old Oakland, Calif.,
native who won first prize. Together they formed a
tight horn section, and a seriously overqualified one.
None of them took the solo spotlight, not even Mr.
Akinmusire, who had publicly earned the right to it. 

The Monk competition has always served a dash of
spectacle along with its dose of prestige, in the
interest of keeping funds flowing (from government and
private sources and from the likes of Cadillac and
GMAC Financial Services, the presenting sponsors). But
this year was splashier than most. No doubt the
setting had something to do with it: The competition
customarily takes place in Washington, where
red-carpet arrivals tend to be more powerful
(possibly) and less glamorous (assuredly). The bigger
factor was Mr. Hancock, who received a humanitarian
award during the concert, and whose staggeringly broad
career provided the evening’s theme.

“He’s been always connected with tomorrow,” Quincy
Jones said, introducing Mr. Hancock. Coming from Mr.
Jones — the venerable pop producer, erstwhile jazz
trumpeter and yet another judge on the heavyweight
panel, along with Clark Terry, Herb Alpert and Hugh
Masekela — this pronouncement felt consequential. It
also seemed to indicate one of the unspoken criteria
for the competition, which has favored a spirit of
progressivism in recent years. 

The notion of forward motion in jazz has been about as
durable as the notion of steadfast tradition; both
principles logically inform the music. And given the
deterioration of jazz’s foothold in mainstream
culture, Mr. Hancock embodies a potent ideal: the rare
commercial operator who has kept his credibility
intact. 

Before he walked out to accept his distinction on
Sunday, Mr. Hancock took a box seat and enjoyed (or
endured) a tour through his pop catalog, as performed
by a band led by Rickey Minor, the producer best known
(in this town, anyway) as the musical director for
“American Idol.” 

Those highlights spanned glossy funk, fusion and even
hip-hop, when Grandmixer DXT scratched his way through
“Rockit,” the cut he made with Mr. Hancock in the
frontier era of MTV. At one point the flutist Hubert
Laws spearheaded a quietly smoldering take on Mr.
Hancock’s “Butterfly.” Then the actor Jamie Foxx took
over: One of his R&B albums features a sample of the
song on a slow jam he calls “VIP.”

Of course there are those who would question whether
“VIP,” or even “Rockit,” represents a step forward for
Mr. Hancock, who spent the 1960s redefining the modern
language of jazz piano. The concert made no effort to
address that issue. What it did, finally, was let
Herbie be Herbie: in a pastel-hued “Maiden Voyage,”
with his compatriot Wayne Shorter on soprano
saxophone, and in a few songs with Joni Mitchell and
Sting.

“It’s great to have friends,” Mr. Hancock said,
chuckling, before Sting emerged to croon “My Funny
Valentine” alongside the trumpeter Chris Botti. Before
that Ms. Mitchell had led a solid charge through a new
song, “Hana,” and a masterly reading of an old one,
“Tea Leaf Prophecy.” (Since she was backed by Mr.
Hancock, Mr. Shorter, the bassist John Patitucci and
the drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, it was a re-enactment of
her guest turn on “River: The Joni Letters,” Mr.
Hancock’s gorgeous new album.) 

Amid this hoopla one thing was buried: the
competition. Perhaps this was inevitable, and a small
price to pay for the pomp and publicity. Still, it was
a shame, not least because the evening’s three
finalists were serious musicians. Along with Mr.
Akinmusire (pronounced ah-KIN-moo-SEE-ray), they were
Jean Caze, a melodist with a reassuring tone (second
place), and Michael Rodriguez, an incisive yet orderly
improviser with a modernistic feel (third). In what
was either a showbiz concession or some kind of point
about versatility, each trumpeter had to play one of
his two selections in support of the singer Al
Jarreau.

This was simply a bad idea. (No disrespect to Mr.
Jarreau.) It robbed the finalists of stage time and
seemed to make them ill at ease. Anyone in the hall
who heard only this much from the three trumpeters — a
majority, it’s safe to say — might have reasonably
underestimated the skill level of the competition.

The semifinals, held on Saturday afternoon at
Schoenberg Hall at the University of California, Los
Angeles, offered a much better indication. Mr.
Rodriguez was the first of 10 competitors, and he
plunged straight into “Yes and No,” a theme by Mr.
Shorter. His rapport with the superb rhythm section —
the pianist Geoffrey Keezer, the bassist Reginald Veal
and the drummer Carl Allen — was responsive and sure. 

The other competitors were strong, and unexpectedly
diverse. Mr. Caze confidently evoked Miles Davis on a
pensive ballad, “Old Folks,” and a brisk anthem, “My
Shining Hour.” 

But Mr. Akinmusire’s three-song set was on another
level entirely. Starting off with Mr. Shorter’s “Fee
Fi Fo Fum,” he moved nimbly around the horn, trawling
a dark middle register and then easily punching up an
octave. He arranged the tune as a shuffle — always a
good idea when Mr. Allen is on board — and he never
ran out of harmonic options. Later he played Benny
Golson’s “Stablemates” as a duet with Mr. Keezer, and
their high-wire act was bracing, exhilarating. At that
point Mr. Akinmusire must have suspected, as the
judges did, that the prize was his to lose.

And he must have known, as Mr. Hancock did, that his
victory doubles as a testimonial. In 2005 Mr.
Akinmusire was one of seven students admitted to the
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, a
two-year college program under Mr. Blanchard’s
artistic direction. One of several educational
initiatives under the Monk Institute banner, it has
been a resounding success.

How Mr. Akinmusire himself will turn out is an open
question, as it should be. His choice of instrument
bodes well for any crossover attempt, as his judges in
the competition can uniformly attest. Then of course
there’s Mr. Hancock’s endorsement, which can’t hurt.
Not one bit.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/arts/music/31monk.html?ref=music

Roy Durfee
P.O. Box 40219
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-0219
rdurfee2003 at yahoo.com

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