[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Review - "Higher Ground" Concert"

[Steve barbone]

Just in case some of us did not "see" or "hear" "Higher Ground" on PBS
Saturday Night, following is a review. It would appear that the concert
accomplished it's aim of broad appeal through the presentation of every
facet of New Orleans culture, many by New Orleans Musicians/residents.

Especially touching was Irvin Mayfield's "Just A Closer Walk" for his father
who was still among the missing in New Orleans. I'm surprised that those who
commented negatively on the concert didn't see fit to mention this as OKOM
from a New Orleans Jazz musician.

Bottom line is, of course, that this concert probably generated more
donations for the Hurricane Relief effort than all of our OKOM concerts
combined so far. How do you say . . . AUDIENCE?

Cheers,
Steve


Jazz Review - Forum: Jazz

Marsalis Leads a Charge for the Cradle of Jazz

By JON PARELES - September 19, 2005 - NY Times

True to New Orleans ritual, "Higher Ground" - the benefit for Hurricane
Katrina relief at the Rose Theater on Saturday night - opened with a
processional and wound up with a parade.

Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which
presented the show, is from New Orleans and has always brought a justifiable
hometown pride to his programs. He has also stocked the Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra with musicians who learned New Orleans style at the source. The
five-hour concert mixed affirmation, mourning and glints of anger at the
devastation of the cradle of jazz. (It was slightly compressed for broadcast
on PBS and NPR, and is being repeated on many stations.)

The concert's most touching moment was a performance by the New Orleans
trumpeter Irvin Mayfield. His father, he said, is still among the missing.
He played "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the hymn that becomes both dirge
and celebration at New Orleans funerals. From a hushed, sustained, almost
tearful beginning, it turned more assertive and ornate, with growls and
extended slides, determined to rise above sorrow.

The actor Laurence Fishburne, a New Orleans resident, was the host. Between
songs, he read historical and literary tributes to the city. He also said it
had endured "a plague of light-fingered politicians" and "generations of
malign neglect from Baton Rouge and Washington." Elvis Costello, who
performed with the New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint, noted that some
conservatives were already warning about the cost of rebuilding the city.
"An effort like this can never be too expensive," he declared.

The program interspersed New Orleans standards - Aaron Neville and Mr.
Toussaint sharing "Go to the Mardi Gras," Diana Krall singing a relaxed,
sultry "Basin Street Blues" - with other songs transformed by the context.
The pianist Herbie Hancock led a trio in his "Eye of the Hurricane," a
jagged, shifting tune he played with percussive intensity.

Female singers reached for somber redemption. Cassandra Wilson, who is from
Mississippi, sang a richly reverent "Come Sunday," and Abbey Lincoln sang
"For All We Know" in hovering, elegiac slow motion. Stephanie Jordan, the
singer in a musical family from New Orleans, made "Here's to Life" sound
wounded but determined. Norah Jones sang Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going
to Rain Today" with melancholy modesty. Renée Fleming sang "Amazing Grace"
with just a hint of operatic inflection. Bette Midler, however, made the odd
choice of the cynical "Is That All There Is?"

Mr. Marsalis led small and large groups, sketching a long New Orleans
continuum from King Oliver's "Dipper Mouth Blues" to his own swinging
big-band piece "Back to Basics" (with a whinnying plunger-muted solo) to
modal jazz with members of his family.

The pianist Marcus Roberts played his "New Orleans Blues," riffling
elegantly through styles from gospel to stride to rumba to modern jazz.
Terence Blanchard, a trumpeter and film composer originally from New
Orleans, led a composition steeped in melancholy dignity. The saxophonist
Joe Lovano played "Blackwell's Message," dedicated to a drummer from New
Orleans.

Paul Simon played his zydeco-based "That Was Your Mother" backed by the
Louisiana accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco, while James Taylor offered his
metaphysical "Never Die Young." Others chose songs with social concerns. Jon
Hendricks sang a bossa nova with a political accusation, "Tell Me the
Truth," and Mr. Costello reached for the anguish and fervor in Mr.
Toussaint's song "Freedom for the Stallion." Dianne Reeves poured her voice
into the didactic "The House I Live In." And the pianist and singer Peter
Cincotti introduced a new song, "Bring Back New Orleans."

To begin and end the concert, Mr. Marsalis chose parade tunes that were
modern takes on New Orleans tradition: "Ain No," rooted in Mardi Gras
chants, and Duke Ellington's "Second Line." The finale turned into a
handkerchief-waving parade through the aisles and back to the stage for a
loose, raucous jam that continued after much of the audience had left - the
kind of neighborhood party that's at the heart of New Orleans music. Now
it's uncertain whether those neighborhoods will ever return.