The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival took place last weekend, spread over three days. One ticketed concert was staged on Friday at the Benedum (Chaka Khan) and the rest - aside from post-festival jam sessions - took place outdoors on Saturday and Sunday at Highmark Stadium at the far end of Station Square.
In previous years, most of the performances were free to the public, taking place on stages set up around Downtown's Cultural District. This time, the outdoor events came with an admission price, which, considering what came with the purchase (and comparing it to similar events in other cities), was still a good value. It was also a way to make up for the lost revenue of 2020. Attendees could purchase VIP tickets to sit in a roped-in center-stage area, or a field seat, where you were free to roam across the whole field, or get a bleacher seat, which was from a distance from the stage but good for shade.
Like a goof, or someone who hasn't had the chance to going back to shaping the day job around live events like this one, I missed several chunks of the festival due to work. Chaka Khan isn't really my thing so I was okay with missing her show but it was kind of disappointing having to miss most of Saturday. (Though I could missed all of it, had my boss not switched me off the evening schedule, which was appreciated.) But enough about me. What follows is my dispatch on what I saw.
Saturday September 17 was a beautiful evening. Not hot, not chilly as dusk started to fall. The perfect kind of evening to walk onto a field and set up a folding chair and listen to music. Gregory Porter was well into his set when I got there and my first thought upon walking onto the field was, It's so great to be around a bunch of people again. Most had masks and nearly everyone seemed safely distant. Within minutes, I ran into Gail and Mensah from the Kente Arts Alliance, two great people who always seem to cross paths with me at the right moment.
The second thought was how great the set-up of the show was. Two huge stages were set up on the field, which meant there only had to be about 30 minutes between sets. That gave the audience enough time to shift their seats from one part of the field to another. This was really well-thought out and it won't surprise me if they stick to this locale and set-up for future fests. Field seats were perfect because the line of vision was solid and the sound was great.
Gregory Porter (pictured above) is quite the dynamic performer, with a voice that makes you sit up and listen. That explains why he has become such a highly regarded and well known singer. And his set kind of takes some liberties with what fits into the jazz repertoire. There's a good deal of soul and contemporary R&B mixed in, without watering down the mood of the set. "No Love Dying" from his Liquid Spirit album, turned into a tribute to his brother, who passed away earlier into the COVID-19 pandemic. Porter's insistence that the audience join him in singing the chorus was an uplifting moment rather than a showbiz trick. It was also another reminder of how great it was to be among a flock of music enthusiasts again.
Bassist Marcus Miller closed out the night, following Porter. His set was heavy on grooves and massive bass lines, but his group didn't skimp on jazz chops either. One of the highlights of the set was when he brought out tenor saxophonist Winston Bell, the son of Poogie Bell, who drummed with Miller's band. The younger Bell (who is 18 years old, if my online research proves accurate) already has a rich, throaty tone on the tenor and fit right in with the band, especially on a reading of "Tutu," which Miller wrote for Miles Davis.
The Sunday afternoon sun was beating down on Highmark Stadium as Jeff "Tain" Watts' group was tearing up the stage. Speaking of beating down, Tain's dear Steelers were in the midst of getting a beatdown across the river during his set. In hopes of cheering them on, he changed the last tune of the set on the fly, switching out a new piece for a groovy tune called "Steely McBlue," inspired by 'that mascot no one likes," he said referring to poor Steely McBeam. The groovy number included a sideways insertion of the city's infamous "Here We Go Steelers" cheer. It was clever and solid but alas, it didn't help the team.
Watts' set was titled "Pittsburgh Suite," as it paid tribute to his hometown. His group featured hometown native David Budway on piano, along with guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Robert Hurst III and tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane. The group had a strong blend of acoustic sounds (piano, tenor) with more electronic effects (guitar) which really added to the weight of the music.
There's something spellbinding about hearing Eddie Palmieri's Afro Caribbean Jazz Septet in a setting like this. There are a lot of groups that incorporate Latin music with jazz. Some do it pretty well. But hearing the 84-year old pianist leading a group with two drummers (neither behind a trap kit; timbales and congas here), it feels like we're getting an unfiltered version of this music. It's tight and full of excitement, so much so that a few people in the audience got up to dance during the set, stealing Palmieri's heart in the process. (It says something that these two women didn't dance for the whole set. Moving like that can take it out of you.)
Marsalis was joined by longtime quartet members Joey Calderazzo (piano), Eric Revis (bass) and Jason Faulkner (drums). The driving energy of "The Mighty Sword," opened the set, with Marsalis on soprano. Two songs later he switched to tenor for a tune where he seemed to evoke the dry-toned leaps of Charlie Rouse. It made sense because the song in question was "Teo," a Thelonious Monk tune which the pianist recorded when Rouse was in the band. When Marsalis traded fours with Faulkner, the drummer's attack felt good and taut. Overall, though, it seemed like the saxophonist was playing it rather safe, opting for long, flowing tones when something with a little more rhythmic and melodic adventure would have lifted things up a little more. Things did get more exciting during a reading of Jeff "Tain" Watt's "Blue Tain." The drummer himself slid into Faulkner's chair and trumpeter Brian Lynch (from the Palmieri band) dropped in too.
When I discovered, a few days prior, who I was going to miss in the festival, I started wondering if I still wanted to go. Lakecia Benjamin (who did an online performance via Kente Arts Alliance earlier this year), Christian Scott A Tunde Adjuah, Christian McBride and Kenny Garrett were all people who I wanted to see, all but one of them appearing on Saturday afternoon.
But part of the reason I still attended was to check out people I normally might not see. The thought I frequently have when listening to any new album, whether I like it or not, is usually, "I wonder how they sound live." For that reason, I thought I should check out keyboardist Patrice Rushen, who followed Marsalis. No doubt, she has chops to spare but I wondered if her sound might be a little slick for these ears.
Turns out it was a little from Column A and a little from Column B. Rushen's sextet kicked off their set with a funky groove, delivered with enough volume to make Rayford Griffin's kick drum rattle your sternum. It might have been on the contemporary side, but that was a jazz piano solo that Rushen ripped off once the group got past the theme. Her clavinet sound in "The Hump" sounded like it was referencing either "Rock It" or "Chameleon" but it maintained some grit, as did the Rhodes break that followed. Alto saxophonist Eric Marienthal - who's had a lot of success on the smoother side of jazz - took the spotlight later in a tune that was in keeping with his track record, and Rushen opted for some rather moist sounding keys to back him. Marienthal's unaccompanied coda pulled out all the stops to wow the crowd: fast flurries of notes, long high wails. A little too showbiz for me, but I had to admire his range on that horn.
Dianne Reeves closed out the evening, but a pending deadline for JazzTimes pulled me out of there early. By that time, it had felt like a good investment anyway. Again, it was great to be around a bunch of jazz fans again. Here's hoping that more people will be smart enough to help squash this pandemic so that events like this will continue in the coming year. Hey, New York Winter Jazz Fest, any thoughts?
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