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…
Yoko Miwa (left) accompanies Sheila Jordan at Thelonious Monkfish in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Dec. 2.
(Photo: Janice Tsai)Sheila Jordan reigns undisputedly as mellow mistress of any jazz club she visits. She strolled into Thelonious Monkfish, pan-Asian nightspot in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Dec. 2 and charmed her way into the lives of sushi-nibbling fans, making a heralded appearance with Yoko Miwa’s Trio.
Emerging with russet bangs over a knowing smile and wearing a floral wrap over a black shift, Jordan displayed effortless style. From the git-go, she reveled in every tune. A snap! from the mic played into her opening gambit: “What was that?” she grimaced, blue eyes a-pop. “That’s not how I scat!” Then scat she did, spinning commentary on local geography during “How Deep Is The Ocean,” and skirting tremolo wobble on “If I Had You.”
She delighted us with ballad rarities, meticulously enunciating Bob Dorough’s “Baltimore Oh-oh-oh-oriole” and each word of Ray Noble’s “The Touch Of Your Lips.” She treated us to a never-heard verse, cueing the trio to a medium bounce and glissing each word of the title (she also slipped in quotes from nursery rhymes and Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas”).
The Great American Songbook is Jordan’s oyster and she had us all shucking along. The trio’s kick-ass break-tune, Mingus’ “Boogie Stop Shuffle,” found Barrett bowing with pinpoint fury, Miwa hammering Parlan-style, and Scott Goulding barreling his toms.
Nearing 90, Jordan is still jazz’s tremulous butterfly. She never negates pleasure in spontaneously cherry-picking anecdotes from her autobiography to regale the crowd. She weaved hard-wired still-wriggly threads of memory from her Detroit youth, creating a tapestry of Charlie Parker lore: “The Bird” morphed into bop chestnut “Quasimodo,” then its Tin Pan Alley ancestor “Embraceable You.”
She also celebrated her Native American heritage, cooing a cool poetic “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” over Barrett’s graceful thrumming.
Sheila’s latest avatar, the teacher/philosopher, emerged as she taught us to scat a minor 12-bar blues [boo-DAY-doo-AH], in call and response, trading increasingly complex fours and Christmas carol quotes. “Now, everybody improvise!” she shouted into the giddy chaos. Among the enthusiastic participants in the ecstatic audience were Berklee singer/educators Maggi Scott, Kris Adams, Kaoruko Pilkington and Lisa Thorson.
Jordan delivered a brief valedictory speech over scraped brushes in the stilled room: “Whatever your dream is, don’t leave it. Don’t give up!” She capped set one with “Look For The Silver Lining,” packing oodles of joyous experience into “sadness” and “strife.” She’ll be back, and we’ll be grateful. DB
Benjamin possessed a fluid, round sound on the alto saxophone, and he was often most recognizable by the layers of electronic effects that he put onto the instrument.
Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
“He’s constructing intelligent musical sentences that connect seamlessly, which is the most important part of linear playing,” Charles McPherson said of alto saxophonist Sonny Red.
Feb 27, 2024 1:40 PM
“I might not have felt this way 30 to 40 years ago, but I’ve reached a point where I can hear value in what people…
Albert “Tootie” Heath (1935–2024) followed in the tradition of drummer Kenny Clarke, his idol.
Apr 5, 2024 10:28 AM
Albert “Tootie” Heath, a drummer of impeccable taste and time who was the youngest of three jazz-legend brothers…
“Both of us are quite grounded in the craft, the tradition and the harmonic sense,” Rosenwinkel said of his experience playing with Allen. “Yet I felt we shared something mystical as well.”
Mar 12, 2024 11:42 AM
“There are a few musicians you hear where, as somebody once said, the molecules in the room change. Geri was one of…
Henry Threadgill performs with Zooid at Big Ears in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 9, 2024 11:30 AM
Big Ears, the annual four-day music celebration that first took place in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee, could well be…
