CD Review: Various Artists, Newport Jazz Gala

Recommended.

Each year on the Friday night before the Newport Jazz Festival, producer George Wein hosts an all-star show, the Newport Festival Foundation Gala, at a downtown Newport location, which serves as a fund-raiser for the festival. Last August, Wein recorded the Gala live, and with the help of contributors, released it on Artist Share. There are nine cuts by various combinations of eleven performers. So far, they have not released any selections on the internet.

The show begins and ends fairly traditionally. It opens with Dianne Reeves singing a beautiful ballad, “I'm in Love Again,” with busy but tasteful accompaniment by pianist Peter Martin. It ends with a jam session. These are the only two tracks in which rhythm instruments anchor the performance. The intervening pieces have in common the fact that the musicians are working largely without a net.

On “Three's Free,” as the title implies, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen and pianist Jason Moran, weave in, out and around one another, bouncing ideas back and forth as they go. “Aurora” features Rudresh Mahanthappa playing an Indian tune on alto sax, along with computerized sound effects that definitely captured my dog's attention. The piece sounds to me like a cityscape.

My choice for the highlight of the album is guitarist Lionel Loueke playing and singing in traditional African style, with solid rhythmic support from Moran. Loueke is from Benin. I'm not sure in what language he's singing, but despite the title (“Merci”), it's not French. The song opens and closes with Bobby McFerrin-style vocalese.

Steve Wilson on alto sax and drummer Lewis Nash deconstruct two familiar tunes in a medley of Fats Waller's “Jitterbug Waltz” and Thelonious Monk's “Evidence.” In a pleasant surprise, Nash gets almost as much solo time as Wilson.

The next two pieces explore the possibilities of jazz harp—not the harmonica, but the big instrument with the many strings. The man behind this difficult instrument is Columbian Edmar Castaneda. He solos on “Entre Cuerdas,” which begins like a semi-classical piece, but evolves into a rhythmic exercise in which he plays bass and mandolin-like sounds, both alternately and simultaneously. On “Double Portion,” we get a taste of what a jazz harp solo sounds like, as he and Wilson improvise off a simple descending line.

A major crowd-pleaser is Cohen and guitarist Bill Frisell playing Lennon and McCartney's “Come Together.” After a long intro, they stick pretty close to the tune, but it's beautifully played.

Finally, as noted, the festivities end with a traditional blowing session to the tune of “Blue Monk.” The ensemble playing is raggedy—maybe deliberately so—followed by bluesy solos by Wilson, Jensen, Frisell, Moran and Nash. Moran best catches the spirit of the tune with his beautifully-constructed contribution.

It's doubtful that you'll be impressed with all nine of these selections, but you're bound to find a couple that you like.

Tracks: I'm in Love Again; Three's Free; Aurora; Merci; Jitterbug Waltz/Evidence; Entre Cuerdas; Double Portion; Come Together; Blue Monk. (59 min.)

Personnel: Ingrid Jensen, trumpet (2 tracks); Steve Wilson, alto saxophone (3 tracks); Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto sax and computer (1 track); Anat Cohen, clarinet (2 tracks); Bill Frisell, guitar (2 tracks); Lionel Loueke, guitar and vocal (1 track); Edmar Castaneda, harp (2 tracks); Jason Moran, piano (3 tracks); Peter Martin, piano (1 track); Lewis Nash, drums (2 tracks); Dianne Reeves, vocal (1 track).