Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Saxophonist, Sonic Explorer Casey Benjamin Dies at 45
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
During his early set at L’Astral nightclub Thursday night, July 9, Canadian saxophonist Joel Miller and his quartet paid ironic tribute to the leader’s love of fishing with “Warm Lake.” As with the pastoral “Chickadee’s Other Song,” a feature for Miller’s soprano, the piece exhibited a sensitive, somewhat understated style and a winning synch with deep-toned bassist Fraser Hollins. More rambunctious but also moving was Miller’s tribute to veteran journalist and broadcaster Len Dobbin, who passed away suddenly, aged 74, at a concert at the Upstairs Jazz Bar and Grill on Wednesday night. The latter incident sent shockwaves through the festival’s press room and beyond, since many journalists had been hanging earlier in the week with the Montreal-based Dobbin, who hosted a popular Sunday-morning jazz show on CKUT radio called “Dobbin’s Den.” It wasn’t until WWPV-FM broadcaster David Beckett told me in depth how Dobbin had invited him on the air years ago and helped him kickstart a festival in Vermont that I realized how treasured Dobbin’s presence was on the scene. His business card ran, “A Friend to Jazz since 1948,” and Beckett reminded me that as a mere 15-year-old, Dobbin had booked a gig for Charlie Parker.
Not the neatest segue, but Joe Cocker’s rendition of his Woodstock anthem “(Love) Lift Us Up Where We Belong,” which received a rousing ovation at Salle Wilfred-Pelletier shortly the Miller set, seemed like some kind of send-off, though it might have been a tad over-the-top for the unassuming Dobbin.
The biggest crowd-puller Thursday night was a reggae doubleheader pitting Toots and the Maytals with Burning Spear at Metropolis. Catching a little of that party vibe, one was reminded how touched Toots is by the funk of James Brown.
The biggest jazz gig, however, was undoubtedly the appearance of Ornette Coleman, who hasn’t played at the festival for more than two decades. Coleman was in upbeat fettle at Théâtre Masionneuve and quite the crowd-pleaser, despite having gently declined festival honcho Alain Simard’s proferring of the heavy-looking Miles Davis Award (Coleman held the bronze statuette for a while but refrained from hauling it away). His set began abruptly with a bang of succinct noise, reminding how, despite his meek persona and veteran years, Ornette is ready for the hit. The group, with the twin strings of acoustic bassist Tony Falanga and “guitaristic” electric bassist Al MacDowell, is a fine framework for Coleman’s whinnying alto cry, although son Denardo on drums rarely seems to be on exactly the same page. Despite recent concessions to the familiar—liftings from Stravinsky and Bach—together with encores of (a superbly bluesy) “Skippy” and even “Lonely Woman,” it’s hard to imagine Coleman pandering.
An audience member’s request for “Skies Of America” was gnomically snubbed by the altoist; “Skies of America is skies of America,” he deflected. But a brief but intense final encore smacked of an oblique Michael Jackson tribute, with snatches of a bassline from “Thriller” emanating from MacDowell. Though Coleman’s violin made the merest of appearances, his endearingly smudgy trumpet seems to act as a cue for changes in the music. Certainly some of the surprise endings Coleman engineers must be more than telepathic.
Apologizing for the clash of his gig with Ornette’s was another of this year’s maestros of the alto, Rudresh Mahanthappa, who made a reappearance at Gèsu after a spot with the star-studded Miles From India project earlier in the festival. In deference to Coleman’s marquee cache, I arrived late for Mahanthappa’s set (which featured guitarist Rez Abbassi and percussionist Dan Weiss, collectively the Indo-Pak Coalition). But Mahanthappa’s experiments are no wallflowers in the shade of Coleman’s light; he is himself a remarkable innovator. What’s more, Weiss proved more than just another Jewish tabla player, with formidable skills on Indian percussion. Weiss’ floor kit included conventional drums for the first time with this group. According to Mahanthappa, since Weiss practices yoga, he felt adept enough to tackle this unusual set up from a cross-legged position. The first encore was “Baladhi,” Mahanthappa’s wry title for a ballad that showcases his mastery of false fingerings and microtones, followed by “You Talk Too Much,” a fiercely loquacious, topical dedication to the critic in Montreal’s Gazette who, Mahanthappa asserted, wrote a shamelessly sexist review of Maria Schneider’s concert on the festival’s opening night. —Michael Jackson
PHOTO: MICHAEL JACKSON
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