The Edge of Wetness

Weather reporters: Local pianist Noah Kellman, drummer Jason Marsalis and saxophonist Pamela Williams were among the stars who performed at this year’s Jazz In the Square festival, despite the rain. 

But for the several thousand who
attended during the blowout’s three-day run, held throughout downtown’s
Clinton and Hanover squares, jazz memories aplenty paid off on an
investment of hours spent huddling under umbrellas and the festival’s
tents. Dozens of local and national bands made the best of the nasty
weather, countering Mother Nature’s bad vibes with an aura of respect
for the genre’s traditions.

The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
was scheduled to kick off the fest on Thursday, July 24, until a brisk
downpour forced the members to huddle under the awning of the Atrium
building behind the main stage in Clinton Square, lined up in concert
duds like dozens of marooned penguins. As time ticked away, it seemed
clear that the musicians wouldn’t risk bringing out their priceless
instruments into the unpredictable weather and humidity, both factors
that warp the wood of their string instruments.

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Instrument check: Musical technicalities turned into
emotive expression via the prowess of (from top) trombonist Curtis
Fuller, the Element’s Frank Almonte and Latin jazz pianist Arturo
O’Farrill.

To provide assistance for local vocalists Ronnie Leigh and Nancy Kelly, both slated for support from the SSO, Luttinger’s backup plan drew on his experience as the helmsman of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra. So trumpeter Jeff Stockham and saxophonist Joe Carello, both day trippers in the SSO and night owls for the CNYJO, took to the stage as part of the auxiliary unit, along with Rick Montalbano,
the group’s usual pianist and associate music director. Selections
included a run through a slightly ironic “Old Devil Moon,” a classic
associated with Ella Fitzgerald and other great pipesters in the past,
but also seemed to speak to the night’s natural mischief.

Leigh attempted to shoo away the storm
with twittering-bird-sounds-turned-scat solo amid the group’s rendition
of “Bye Bye Blackbird.” As a side effect, the onomatopoeia beckoned
Kelly on stage, who jumped into the standard “Almost Like Being In
Love.” Kelly sympathized with the soggy situation, telling the
audience, “The symphony wanted to play very much, and I’m sad I wasn’t
able to play with them. But you know what’s one of the best things?
Just being able to get up here and play.” 

A variety of experimental and frolicking
interplays between the musicians ensued, including a funky reduction of
“I Can Only Give You Love” that snapped into the groove with the help
of Kelly’s leads, as well as spot-on takes of “Route 66,” “Misty” and
“Take the ‘A’ Train.”

Seaflight, featuring locals Chad Lefkowitz on sax, Karl Sterling on drums, Jason Kessler on classical guitar and Jeff Guevin
on upright bass, serenaded the crowd’s remnants with originals that
shared the exotic, gypsy quality of Django Reinhardt via Kessler’s
meandering guitar accompaniment. Originals included “Stormy Ride,”
“Voyager’s Blues” and “On Target,” with Guevin’s heavy-but-firm bass
line accompanying the latter tune. The group shined best while trading
eights in a rendition of Miles Davis’ classic “All Blues.”

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Friday, July 25, proved to be the sunniest day of the bunch, as beautiful weather greeted a performance from trombonist Tom “Bones” Malone in tandem with a potpourri of local players such as Mark Hoffmann on guitar, vocalist Gary Branch
and reprises from Stockham and drummer Luttinger. Malone is best known
as an original member of the Blues Brothers band, as well as having
worked alongside bassist Will Lee and pianist Paul Shaffer during
stints with the Saturday Night Live band. 

These days Malone seems content to play
as a solo musician, although at Jazz in the Square he functioned more
like a conductor, waving his hand in front of the band to command
beginnings and endings. Jaco Pastorius’ lively jammer “The Chicken”
caught the crowd’s attention, while Wilson Pickett’s “Wait Till the
Midnight Hour” and “Flip, Flop, Fly” served as additional material for
a soulful, shuffling set. Aside from his colorful trombone solos,
Malone also gave local musicians some opportunities under the
spotlight, even allowing Luttinger to take liberties during a solo in
the Blues Brothers classic “Soul Man.”

Friday night’s highlight featured showstopping musicianship from The Element, a group from New York City’s SUNY Purchase that includes Spencer Murphy, local bassist and son of harmonica player Skip Murphy.
The Element glommed hip-hop rhythms, James Brown-esque horns and
psychedelic keyboard licks into a set that had the high energy of a
Parliament Funkadelic show and the sophistication of a top-shelf jazz
group.

The Element played two sets throughout
the day, the first of which was pre-empted by a slow-motion,
free-association dance between trombonist Ron Prokopez and percussionist Frank Almonte.
The resulting snap at the end of the dramatic gesture kicked the set
into hip-hop mode, furthered by the talents of keyboardist-guitarist Jon Swift and the retro tones of Murphy’s Fender Jazz bass.

Tunes like “Intoxicated,” a rap lyric
spliced together with Afro-Cuban rhythm parts, offered a solid live
rendition of the cohesive sounds that come together on the band’s album
Future Proof (Lagond Music). Charlie Lagond,
the professor who had originally pulled the musicians together as a
Purchase-exclusive group, showed that his heart is still with the
now-independent group during a handful of solos, while drummer Norman Paul Edwards utilized his over-the-top, straight-laced persona to glue the group together. Trumpeter Jonathan Powell also shined during several solos.

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The group’s second set was studded with
more dramatic gems, including an instrumental of “My Favorite Things,”
which harkened to the band’s jazz roots. Swift later dabbled with
keyboard sounds ala Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter,” via the Nord Electro
wonder board. 

The CNYJO also made an appearance on Friday, with generous samplings from the group’s independently produced CD Then, Now and Again.
“HipNotHop,” a tune penned by pianist Montalbano, formed one of the
focal points of the set, while Miles Davis’ “Eighty-One” called out to
traditionalists.

The evening climaxed with the Latin Jazz All-Stars, featuring Arturo O’Farrill and Claudio Roditi.
A few soloing histrionics demonstrated Roditi’s masterful trumpet work,
as well as O’Farrill’s introspective piano arrangements. Then O’Farrill
discussed the Latin jazz players’ roots, appropriate considering that
the set was dedicated to pianist Hilton Ruiz.

A variety of improvs, including “Entre
Amigos,” served as vehicles for the pair’s musical stylings. At one
point O’Farrill exclaimed to the crowd, “If the moon is in the right
phase, you can get {charismatic trombonist} Jimmy Bosch
to dance!” The obvious quickly ensued, infusing the night’s set with
good vibes and quixotic moves. Roditi seemed especially gracious at the
show’s closing, as he thanked the sound crew for their meticulous
efforts.

Hard times had fallen on the festival
again on Saturday, July 26, however, with the rain only letting up for
the early-evening performance by local piano phenom Noah Kellman and the National Youth Jazz Quintet.
Kellman explained in a July 25 interview that the six musical friends
came together at national jazz clinics held last summer. Despite a
stage introduction by News 10 Now’s sultry Lacey Johnson, the group
wasn’t that distracted as it launched into a hip-hop track penned by
drummer Jimmy MacBride. Another local, trumpeter Nick Frenay, jumped into the song’s sharp head along with tenor saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown.
The group later tumbled around some triplets in a tune Kellman cited as
being titled “Waltz,” a rapidly modulating smorgasbord of moods.

An arrangement of “Istanbul (Not
Constantinople)” showed the breadth of their influences, while
Lefkowitz-Brown’s self-penned “Storm Song” had a pseudo-classical,
angular feel that came across a bit academic—although such judgement is
only possible because the group plays on the same level as layered,
sophisticated, national musicians. Bassist Greg Chaplin kept a strong degree of control over the band, even having been cited by Kellman as the one member who knows best how to swing.

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Amid further rain showers, Pamela “The Saxtress” Williams
delivered a highly commercial, hour-long set with synthesizers aplenty
that bombarded the crowd with phony instrumental sounds. Williams
picked up some brownie points by swaggering into the crowd and
performing solo licks for fellow females in the front row, who got out
of their seats and danced around the pied piper. The saxophonist even
got in the face of Post-Standard music blogger “Marky” Mark Bialczak
to blast some notes his way, as the writer sat googly-eyed amid all the
musical masturbation. Yet thunder and lightning consumed the heavens,
leading toward a climatic, blustery storm that threatened to shut down
the Williams show, because, as Luttinger explained, “We have a lot of
metal up here on stage!”

Band of brothers: Guitarist and recently inducted Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Famer Mark Hoffmann  (left) struts his stuff with former Blues Brother band member, Tom “Bones” Malone.

Thankfully, Curtis Fuller’s Superband
got the eventual OK to take the stage for the die-hard audience members
who had stuck around until the bitter end. “The Clan” was marked by an
especially tight solo from trumpet player Randy Brecker, who had returned to Syracuse after his JGB Jazz Fest experience earlier this summer. Also on stage was drummer Jason Marsalis, brother to Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo, who managed to pull off a variety of extremely technical solos, and saxophonist Jovan Alexander, who went through intricate lines woven on his somewhat rare C melody tenor.

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During a rendition of Freddy Hubbard’s
“Up Jump Spring,” Fuller laughingly explained, “In this song, we’d like
to feature no one in particular!” Brecker, however, paid delicate
attention to the melody, and Fuller took a subtly attacked, fluttering,
note-filled solo. And when the band launched into “Caravan,” it was
clear that drummer Marsalis was primed to explode into solo.
Splattering into a million tiny licks, the likes of which might have
been compared to a Jackson Pollock painting, Marsalis did as much for
the feelings of soul that jazz is best known to do as was possible.

The solo was an intimate, fitting end to
the festival that so desperately needed at least something to redeem
Luttinger’s horrific luck. Yet somewhere between thwarted artistic
ambitions and memorable musical accomplishments, Jazz in the Square
still beat the odds no matter how much precipitation came its way.