At St. Peter’s Church on 54th and Lexington (NYC) last night, there was a memorial concert for the late saxophonist Dewey Redman — an event I almost missed and am so glad I didn’t. Barely had I removed my coat before I was watching Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette play “The Bat,” a classic Metheny ballad. To hear these giants in such an intimate, informal setting was almost surreal. Muhal Richard Abrams, the legendary avant-garde composer and pianist, sat nearby and took it all in.
Other highlights:
— The great vocalist Sheila Jordan on “You Do Something to Me” and “For All We Know,” with just Cameron Brown on bass and Dave Ballou on trumpet. Jordan’s elastic phrasing, her hip nonchalance, is amazing to behold.
— Pianist Geri Allen bringing crystalline beauty to “Dewey’s Tune” with vocalist Teri Roiger and bassist John Menegon, plus DeJohnette on drums. Allen soon returned to play a hypnotic ballad with Cameron Brown on bass and Pheeroan akLaff on drums.
— Joshua Redman’s solemn, unaccompanied tenor saxophone tribute to his late father.
— A brief but powerful solo violin improvisation by Leroy Jenkins.
— A heartfelt tribute from pianist Ethan Iverson and bassist Reid Anderson of The Bad Plus, with the evening’s MC, Matt Wilson, sitting in on drums.
All of it an apt prelude to the annual conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), which takes place Wednesday through Saturday of this week. The jazz community, including me, will be out in force, so posting will be light.
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