Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
The Essence of Emily
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
Ivan Lins (left) performs with Jane Monheit and the Pacific Jazz Orchestra on Jan. 17.
(Photo: Beate Walden)In 2023, bandleader, composer and arranger Chris Walden brought to fruition — and to the stage — an ambitious idea whose time had come. Seven-time Grammy-gifted Walden, who has become an in-demand musician in Hollywood since moving from his native Germany, launched the multitiered Pacific Jazz Orchestra, a unique hybridized concoction mixing a traditional big band setting with strings, and adding that crowd-appeal factor of vocalists in the mix.
As Walden has said, the grand project is possible because Los Angeles is home to some of the world’s finest musicians, on all sides of the genre spectrum, and those players and singers are available for concerts within driving distance around the region. Getting the large 40-piece ensemble on the road is another matter for another time, although a compact 17-piece edition played at Blue Note Tokyo.
As part of its current, the PJO settled into a fitting thematic focus recently, paying tribute to the important and distinctively melodic Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivan Lins, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. On Jan. 17, the project landed in the swanky atmosphere of Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California, an impressive and elegantly conceived edifice designed by architect Cesar Pelli and a prize among West Coast concert halls since 2006.
Guest spots turned to supple singer Jane Monheit — who has worked with Lins — and smooth jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour, who has recorded Lins’ music with him, including on “Harlequin,” a natural set list entry here. In this aggregation well-stocked with strong players and an embarrassment of soloing riches, the standouts of the night included ever-tasteful pianist Josh Nelson, the bold saxophonist Kirsten Edkins and the young tenor sax dynamo Jacob Scesney, who has a sure instinct for building interesting and surprising solos.
The program opened with Walden’s lyrical tune “No Bounds,” segueing into a Ritenour feature, “Agua de Beber,” showcasing the guitarist’s signature soft-burn eloquence, tinged with Wes Montgomery-esque echoes and a strong Brazilian bent. The latter factor kicked off the concert’s second set, with Ritenour’s smoothy “Rio Funk.”
Lins brought his graceful presence to the stage, singing in his characteristic clear-headed and open-hearted style behind a digital keyboard. His music fares well in the lush textural palette of the PJO’s structure, as on the Walden-arranged pieces “Rio de Maio” and a hypnotic Lins jewel, “Começar de Novo,” given lithe form through Monheit’s treatment. Monheit also sang in tandem, with all due empathetic connection, with Lins on Jim McNeely charts of “Desesperar Jamais,” “Dinorah Dinorah” and a buoyant Lins “hit,” “Madalena,” with Ritenour joining in the song’s blithe spirit.
For an encore, the band turned to another Lins classic, “Velas” (from his 1989 album Love Dance), memorably transformed into a signature piece for the late chromatic harpist Toots Thielmanns. For this occasion, in an arrangement by Walden, the protagonist role was taken on by Tom Scott, making a cameo on an electronic wind instrument. Scott’s part made up in expressive elan what the instrument’s timbre lacked in organic, unplugged authenticity.
During the night, Walden and Lins extended compassion and concern for those affected and directly victimized by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. The victim list has taken its toll on many L.A.-based musicians who have lost their homes to fires, including direct links to the PJO family: arranger Vince Mendoza (who created the charts for Lins’ “Ai, Ai, Ai, Ai” and “Daquilo que eu sei,” two highlights of this show) and PJO’s versatile violinist Charlie Bisharat.
Early in the evening, Walden asserted to the crowd that “music can be therapeutic, not only for us but for the audience, and can provide solace and comfort.” PJO’s Segerstrom concert offered up ample solace and comfort, jazz energies and an inspiring dose of the magic Lins conjures. DB
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
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