We have been to several different kinds of jazz performances lately. We heard a jazz concert with the singer Kendra Shank at the apartment of friends of ours. These friends do a wonderful thing; they engage the artists for a performance in their apartment and also provide great food and drinks. Guests bring money that goes to the artists, and the artists are paid to perform in an convivial and intimate environment. Shank and her fellow musicians, Frank Kimbrough on piano and Dean Johnson on bass were extremely accomplished musicians whose playing was a delight to hear. It once you get used to it, the idea of listening to jazz in a small room is engaging. It amazes me how many good jazz musicians (and others) that are out there that no one really knows about. Or that are known about only among small circles of connoisseurs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we went with other friends who wanted to hear the trumpeter Arturo Sandoval at the Blue Note. While I certainly wouldn't have chosen Sandoval myself, I looked him up and saw that he was an Emmy and Grammy award winner, along with various other medals, and a trumpet virtuoso. What could go wrong? Everything, it was a terrible show. When Sandoval played the trumpet, he was certainly good, but his band was the worst mishmash of mediocre musicians I have heard in a long time. There was both piano and electric piano/synthesizer, a drummer and a percussionist, and someone playing some sort of amplified bass gadget, plus various guests. In addition, Sandoval frequently soloed on a cheesy little keyboard synthesizer, as well as singing and playing the piano and spending a great deal of time chatting about nothing at the microphone. And the sound system was terrible. The packed crowd, needless to say, was seemingly enthusiastic, and when Sandoval ended the show with showing off his high notes slowly, one by one, in an unaccompanied solo to sustained applause, I was fed up. Was this about dumbing down for the audience? Or simply bad taste? I have no clue, and I don't want to know.
My faith in jazz was redeemed, however, by another visit to the Jazz Standard with David M and our friends Krin and Paula to hear the Mingus Big Band. It was one of their more chaotic performances, but somehow the spontaneity adds to the appeal of the music. They did some wonderful tunes, including an extended excerpt from Mingus's magnum opus "Epitaph". And I love how Mingus adds all these clashing layers of harmony and rhythm. It sometimes reminds me of Charles Ives. And Helen Sung never ceases to amaze on the piano. Jazz lives at the Jazz Standard.
