From the April 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record:
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A pattern emerged when the Nicholas Payton Television Studio Orchestra played its third Saturday set at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (March 5th): “Blues for Booker Little,” a simmering, Latin-tinged opener featuring the leader on trumpet and Chelsea Baratz on tenor, gave way to “Blue,” a dissonant, shadowy piece from Payton’s 2008 Into the Blue, with a sparkling Mike Moreno guitar solo. Then came “Potato Head Blues,” a roaring Louis Armstrong cover, with Anat Cohen and Michael Dease doing damage on clarinet and trombone, respectively, before Payton took up vibrant stop-time choruses. And yet more blue: first the minor-key cooker “Blues for Duke Pearson,” kicked off by bassist Bob Hurst and bass clarinetist Patience Higgins in tight unison; then the Kenny Kirkland homage “Once in a Blue Moon,” a mini-concerto for the gifted Lawrence Fields on Fender Rhodes. Payton broke from the “blue” theme with “You Are the Spark,” a dreamy bossa with a fierce alto solo by Sharel Cassity; “Let It Ride,” also from Into the Blue, expansively orchestrated and enlivened by Erica von Kleist’s showstopping turn on flute; and “Congo Square,” a go-for-broke finale built around Roland Guerrero’s percussion and Ulysses Owens’ drums. In all, a swaggering modern big band set with quasi-electric contours. One quibble: Payton’s singing (on two songs) was just serviceable, which made one wonder why the fine vocalist Johnaye Kendrick was given so little to do. (David R. Adler)
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Hearing guitarist Gene Bertoncini’s early solo set at Smalls (March 7th) was very much like gathering around the fire, and the warmth given off by his six nylon strings was plenty to fill the room. His technique seemed more ragged and imprecise than in the past, and his intonation was spotty until a tuning break right before his “So In Love/The More I See You” medley put things in order. But Bertoncini’s mastery of reharmonization, his way with tight block chording and venturesome counterpoint, remains striking, giving a modern edge to his subtle gestures and melodic tenderness. There were moments of chromatic density and deceptive cadence in “My One and Only Love,” “My Romance,” “Nuages” and other ballads that one would never expect. A good number of the songs were from Bertoncini’s Body and Soul (2000) and Quiet Now (2005), which should be counted among the finest solo jazz guitar documents on record. Of course, a nylon-string fingerstylist as adroit as this can also draw on classical repertoire at will — thus Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” and Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” did much to vary the set. (Unsatisfied, Bertoncini tried the ending of the latter a second time.) The vocal spots were the biggest surprise: On “Estate” and “Love Like Ours,” Bertoncini rendered the lyric as a fragile murmur, at times talking more than singing, almost apologizing to the crowd beforehand but determined to share the song’s inner meaning. (DA)
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