Javon Jackson Quartet with Benny Green

[MartyJazz]

Tomorrow night at the Museum of Modern Art, Las Olas Blvd. A "meet the musician" segment at 7:30 PM followed by a concert at 8. Tix $30 ($25 for "South Florida Jazz" members). See ya.

http://www.southfloridajazz.org/jazz/

Date is actually May 20th, sorry.

Edited May 19, 2006 by MartyJazz

[Dan Gould]

Tomorrow night at the Museum of Modern Art, Las Olas Blvd. A "meet the musician" segment at 7:30 PM followed by a concert at 8. Tix $30 ($25 for "South Florida Jazz" members). See ya.

http://www.southfloridajazz.org/jazz/

Date is actually May 20th, sorry.

Well, that answers my emailed question, Marty!

I wonder if Evan or David Gartner can make it.

[jlhoots]

They're coming out West this fall, we're told with Jimmy Cobb & Nat Reeves.

[MartyJazz]

Got to see the show last night and while it was an enjoyable evening, it certainly was not a very challenging listening experience as the group basically performed a mainstream hard bop and standard repertoire. Not that this is a bad thing but I see no reason whatsoever to go out and cop a CD by the group when most, if not all of the pieces performed have been issued in excellent versions by JJ's acknowledged hard bop group influences as well as such tenor giants as Coltrane & Rollins. When I first heard JJ on record (actually CD), I thought he had a more pronounced Joe Henderson influence but I could not detect that strain at all last night. In fact, while I don't want to be negative, Jackson's playing for me lacked the fire and imagination I associate with other modern saxophonists who share similar influences but are more intense and compelling in their playing. The real enjoyment for me came from the excellent comping and solo work from Benny Green - he can really take care of business. Also, Carl Allen has to be the most relaxed appearing yet hard swinging drummer I've ever had the pleasure to see. (I saw Allen back in the late '80s working with a George Coleman quartet but his playing appeared to be more rudimentary back then).

From memory, the tunes performed for the two sets included: "Good Bait" (Dameron), "Whisper Not" (Golson), "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing" (Rollins' phrasing of the melody from the Max Roach recording employed here), "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", "Lazy Bird" (Coltrane), "Bolivia" (Walton), "Body and Soul", "Theme from Mr. Lucky", "My Shining Hour" and "Bags' Groove" as an encore, the latter Milt Jackson blues serving as a tribute, strangely believe it, to the recently departed Jackie McLean.

The group will also appear at "The Harriet" at City Place in West Palm Beach this coming Tuesday evening, May 23rd.

Edited May 21, 2006 by MartyJazz

[Dan Gould]

Well, I must say that I enjoyed the group, and Javon's playing a bit more than Marty did. I am guessing that Marty missed the "Meet the Artists" session at the start, where it was made clear that while the members of the band have had a great deal of experience playing together in pairs within other groups, they are not at all a permanent group and they certainly do not have any CDs out as such, and have not played all together previously. I strongly suspect that the setlist was chosen within the parameters of what the South Florida Jazz group booked the group for: an evening of hard bop. Otherwise they would not have played up the connections of Jackson and Green to the Jazz Messengers, or the fact that Carl Allen has led a Blakey tribute band. I would bet that the WPB show will feature more original tunes, though again, considering that Jackson and Green had not played together in a long time, perhaps they will stick with the tried and true repertoire.

As for the Henderson influence, I still hear it in the dry tone that Javon has.

Also, I should mention that Nat Reeves was the bassist for the show also and he also took care of business.

[MartyJazz]

My brother and I came in late for the Meet the Musicians segment so your point Dan about this group not being a regular working band is well taken as I did not hear that it was assembled primarily for this gig and the upcoming one in West Palm Beach (tix are only $25). And I should have mentioned Nat Reeves' contribution to the group. But overall I'll stick by my assessment of who I felt were the stronger players in the group. Overall, I'm glad I went and it was a shame that the event wasn't a sellout, it being a relatively small theater and the non South Florida Jazz member ticket price being only $30.

[Shawn]

I saw Javon once in Seattle...his backing band was Dr. Lonnie Smith & Idris Muhammed (and a guitarist I never did identify). Let's just say that Javon did his best to keep up with Lonnie & Idris...but they easily "schooled" the young guy. In fact, Lonnie purposely went TOTALLY outside on one of Javon's ballads...it was awesome...but Javon looked like he wanted to walk over and strangle him.

[makpjazz57]

Benny Green will be at the Harriet (sp?) Gilman theatre in West Palm Beach tomorrow night - not sure who is playing with him.

Marla

[MartyJazz]

Benny Green will be at the Harriet (sp?) Gilman theatre in West Palm Beach tomorrow night - not sure who is playing with him.

Marla

It will be the same group discussed above in this thread, i.e. a quartet with Javon Jackson, Nat Reeves and Carl Allen

[bertrand]

Jackie did record 'Bags' Groove' on Hat Trick, but it's definitely not a signature tune.

Grachan Moncur opened his set at the Iridium the day after Jackie's funeral with a funky, groove-oriented version of 'Blue Rondo' that sounded nothing like the version on One Step Beyond. Now that was a tribute to Jackie.

Bertrand.