New Ensembles, Inspired Pairings Animate Umbria Jazz Fest

By Willard Jenkins I Aug. 12, 2016

Guitarist Pat Metheny (left) and bassist Ron Carter perform as a duo at Umbria Jazz in Perugia, Italy, on July 13.
(Photo: Umbria Jazz Festival/Facebook)

Herbie Hancock is the most evident of the young pianist’s antecedents, but Alexander’s upward evolution is purposeful and precipitous. His musical instincts are generous and interactive, and he has a clever way of manipulating dynamics.

He also impressed with his varied material, which included an obligatory Monk piece in each set. Coltrane got his props, too, as Alexander unleashed a knuckle-busting version of “Countdown” in one set and a reverently swinging “Resolution” in the next. (This reviewer caught two of the five sets.)

Social consciousness was on favorable display as Alexander opened one performance with a prayerful solo version of “The Old Rugged Cross,” which he performed in recognition of the previous day’s tragedy in Nice, France. “Every time I play, I try to feel the essence of jazz—the blues,” he informed the rapt audience.

Playing with uncommon relaxation for one so young, he took his time unfolding Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” following up with a slightly puckish “Rhythm-A-Ning.” The appreciative Pavone crowd demanded two encores. (Such performances raise the expectations for Alexander’s sophomore album, Countdown, which Motéma will release on Sept. 16.)

Italian jazz was on ample display as well, with performances by local masters Enrico Rava on trumpet and Stefano Bollani on piano. Raucous evening parades were marshaled by the Italian street band Funk Off, and prodigious trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso held forth in a spirited late-afternoon octet program at Teatro del Pavone. Titled “Duke,” the program sailed from “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart” to a medley of “Black And Tan Fantasy” and “Jeep’s Blues.” In every aspect of the performance, Bosso brought his own buoyancy to the maestro’s book.

Duke Ellington was also the subject of a conservatory orchestra performance on July 17, in which the orchestra performed Ellington and Strayhorn’s Such Sweet Thunder, an homage to William Shakespeare. The suite, which Ellington composed after attending the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, in 1956, was a successful pairing of the Duke and the Bard.

Other notable performers throughout the week included the soulful vocalist Allan Harris, the cutting-edge conguero Pedrito Martinez, the drummer Sammy Miller and his band The Congregation and the trombonist Fred Wesley and his band the New JBs. Nigerian-Brit vocalist Ola Onabule impressed mightily with his set on the Arena stage.

Also at the Arena stage, two internationally touring ensembles converged with yin-yang contrast. The mouth-watering promise of the evening—billed as Chick Corea’s 75th Birthday Celebration “Homage to Heroes”—evaded its heroic promise.

Troubled early by a spotty sound mix, pianist Corea, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Wallace Roney, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Marcus Gilmore fell short on delivering a program befitting their collective mastery.

Conversely, The Branford Marsalis Quartet with vocalist Kurt Elling achieved an admirable venture, making the case that they are a true quintet (as shown on the June 10 OKeh release Upward Spiral). The poetic Elling and the interactive heat of Marsalis proved an inspired pairing.