Jazz Stars Turn Out in Force for JFA Annual Jazz Loft Party

By Ted Panken I Apr. 28, 2016

Randy Weston performs at the Jazz Foundation of America’s annual Jazz Loft Party at Hudson Studios in Manhattan on April 16.
(Photo: Udo Salters)

Back at “Funky Claude’s,” the Cookers’ three-tune set was all the more remarkable for the collective focus and creative spirit sustained by this primarily septuagenarian unit (drummer Billy Hart is 74, bassist Cecil McBee is 80, pianist George Cables is 71, tenor saxophonist Billy Harper is 73, and trumpeter Eddie Henderson is 75).

Highlights were McBee’s lovely “Peacemaker,” on which Henderson’s solo refracted the vocabularies of Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis into his own singular argot; Harper’s “Croquet Ballet,” on which 38-year-old alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw uncorked a soaring, luminous declamation; and Hart’s consistently interactive, in-the-moment drumming. In fact, it was such a compelling performance that I missed a 20-minute show at “Café Society” featuring T-Bone Burnett, backed by David Mansfield on mandolin, Marc Ribot on banjo and Blake on bass, followed by a 15-minute solo recital by pianist Eric Lewis.

But I did catch Le Funk À Vanguard, led by Chicago-based percussionist-vocalist Kahil El’Zabar, with Hamiet Bluiett on baritone saxophone, Craig Harris on trombone, D.D. Jackson on piano, Kelvyn Bell on guitar and Jamaaladeen Tacuma on electric bass. After opening with a free-bop tune featuring solos by Bluiett and Harris, El’Zabar moved from behind his drum set to the front of the bandstand for an Afrocentric kalimba feature, supported by Bell’s melodic comp and Tacuma’s flowing bass lines, before Jackson played a percussive, clustery solo.

Back at Café Society, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was raising a joyful noise with a song that hearkened to Mardi Gras Indian roots, highlighted by Ronell Johnson’s alligator-like trombone solo, then another that featured Professor Longhair-isms from pianist Rickie Monie, and then another showcasing the saxophone and singing skills of Charlie Gabriel.

For the penultimate set, Steve Jordan, who is unparalleled as a spontaneous orchestrator from the drumkit, assembled a cohort of New York session veterans for a tribute to David Bowie, including such collaborators as background vocalists Frank and George Simms (“Let’s Dance,” “Modern Love,” “China Girl”), guitarists Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar (co-composer of “Fame”), bassist Emir Kassan (“Fame”) and conguero Sammy Figueroa (“Let’s Dance”), as well as vocalists Bernard Fowler and Robin Clark.

To ensure that JFA’s benefactors would leave with bright moments imprinted on their memories, Oxenhorn booked the U.S. retirement performance of blues singer Sweet Georgia Brown, whose admirers include Cecil Taylor, and for whom the JFA has raised $20,000 to help with medical issues.

Brown’s band, which included Greg Lewis on Hammond B-3 and Adrian Cunningham on tenor saxophone, was stellar. Brown put her powerful voice and lubricious attitude to work on “Hold On, I’m Coming,” up-voicing the penultimate syllable of “coming” with meaningful emphasis, signifying on Lewis’ habit of carrying his “big organ” to gigs with purring double-entendres, and generally answering the question, “Everybody wants to know why I sing them goddamn blues.”