[Dixielandjazz] Wynton Plays Louis

[Steve Barbone]

Everyone who reprises Louis Armstrong has trouble doing it because of the
obvious unique genius of Louis Armstrong. Wynton was no exception.

However, this performance was the best of the bunch so far. And Wycliffe
Gordon was absolutely superb.

Thanks again, Wynton, for putting OKOM in the International spotlight.

Those of you in the NYC area who missed this performance should be ashamed
of yourselves.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Music Review | 'Wynton and Louis Armstrong¹s Hot Fives'
Channeling the Granddaddy of Skid-Dat-De-Dat

NY TIMES - By NATE CHINEN - September 30, 2006

In the recorded literature of jazz ‹ and of American music, really ‹ there
is no greater document than the stack of three-minute sides made by Louis
Armstrong for the OKeh label in the mid- to late 1920¹s. Leading two
successive bands billed as his Hot Five (and, briefly, a Hot Seven),
Armstrong delivered a series of performances bursting with bravura and
invention, in the process introducing a heroic new language of
improvisation. 

That language was scatted, yelped and murmured at the Rose Theater on
Thursday night, in the first of three Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts called
³Wynton and Louis Armstrong¹s Hot Fives.² Led by the jazz center¹s artistic
director, Wynton Marsalis, the program paid straightforward homage to the
Hot Five recordings while trying to recreate their magic.

That¹s a tall order even for Mr. Marsalis, the most heralded trumpeter to
emerge from New Orleans since Armstrong did more than 80 years ago. He
handled the task expertly, with a tone less brilliant than Armstrong¹s but
with a sense of phrase and line that was every ounce as assertively nimble.
On ³Cornet Chop Suey,² a highlight of the concert, Mr. Marsalis boldly
charged through an unaccompanied solo chorus; on ³Fireworks² he played an
impressive series of breaks, with a leaping syncopation.

He also did an admirable job as host, balancing expectations with anecdotal
humor and one instructive creed: ³We don¹t believe in segregating our music
by eras.² He was arguing, among other things, that the Hot Five recordings
were timeless, even contemporary. His eight-piece band underscored this
assertion on numbers like a rhythmically reconfigured ³Once in a While.²

On several other selections, though, a hint of tedium crept in. ³Potato Head
Blues² felt oddly muted, and ³Melancholy² simply wafted by. And despite a
tantalizing interlude by Jonathan Batiste on piano and Don Vappie on guitar,
³Savoy Blues² gave off the musk of an antique. To a man, the musicians
filled their roles capably, but there was little sense of the dashing
discovery that Armstrong brought to the music.

The closest thing to an exception came from Wycliffe Gordon, whose
contribution equaled that of his bandleader. Mr. Gordon scatted and sang in
the ebullient Armstrong style, and his tuba playing was a joy.

On ³St. James Infirmary,² which featured a suave vocal by Mr. Marsalis, Mr.
Gordon soloed winsomely using just a brass mouthpiece; on ³Skid-Dat-De-Dat²
he interrupted his own vocal chorus with a single comically inept phrase on
trumpet. More than once he picked up a bass, joining the band¹s regular
bassist, Carlos Henriquez, who was then free to solo.

One of the concert¹s telling moments occurred on ³Ory¹s Creole Trombone,²
which featured Mr. Gordon on his primary instrument alongside another fine
trombonist, Vincent Gardner. Draping a black kerchief over the bell of his
horn, Mr. Gordon delivered a monster performance in a stubbornly archaic
style. Even if it wasn¹t supposed to be anchored to an era, it came as an
exhilarating jolt from out of time.

³Wynton and Louis Armstrong¹s Hot Fives² repeats tonight at Frederick P.
Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway; (212) 721-6500
or jalc.org.