![]() They sound very much like a large jazz band from the era, not only in their flawless reading of the charts but in their concise solos. The 11-piece band normally plays weekly engagements in New York with their 1920s/30s music featuring arrangements rom Giordano’s huge collection. The most eagerly awaited concert in the festival for me was getting a rare opportunity to see Vince Giordano’s Night Hawks, a group that had not been in Southern California in a decade. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening of thought-provoking music. Bassist Menares was well featured on “Bluest Eyes,” Aldana effectively built up “Emilin” to a climax and was quite passionate on “Los Ojos de Chile.” The night ended with the romantic “Impulse” which had a tango feel. “Intuition” included a joyful piano solo while “The Tool” had drummer Abadey playing a floating rather than swinging rhythm that worked quite well, implying rather than always stating the beat. On “Falling,” Aldana and the quartet were quite energetic with Lehavi (who was consistently impressive) hinting at Keith Jarrett in spots. However during the remainder of the night, she displayed her own musical personality and inventive style. While in her early period Aldana (particularly when working with a pianoless trio) sounded a bit like Sonny Rollins, during her recent performance on the opener “12 Stars,” a sensitive and somewhat spiritual ballad, she hinted a bit at Charles Lloyd, particularly when playing quiet high notes. At the Soraya night club, she led a quartet also including pianist Gadi Lehavi, bassist Pablo Menares, and drummer Kush Abadey. Fortunately the second half of the night (which included “Impetus,” “Hope” and “Benediction”) was more passionate than the laidback first half, featured more individual statements from the musicians, and included a few speedy solos by Ross that reinforced one’s feeling that he is one of the future giants on his instrument.ĭuring the past decade, Melissa Aldana has emerged as one of the top young tenor-saxophonists in jazz. Each player had one or two chances to solo throughout the night and Garo on flute was particularly impressive whenever she was featured, but I do wish that there had been more opportunities for the ensemble to cut loose. Performing his original music from the recent album The Parable of the Poet, Ross emphasized slower and introspective pieces during the night’s first half while the second part generated more heat. Actually the emphasis was more on Ross’ writing than his playing or anyone’s individual solos. If only that was permanent Los Angeles could use a club like this one! Joel Ross, one of the bright young voices of the vibraphone, led a nonet that included trumpeter Marquis Hill, trombonist Kalia Vandever, altoist Josh Johnson, tenor-saxophonist Maria Kim Sterling, flutist Gabrielle Garo, pianist Sean Mason, bassist Rick Rosato, and drummer Craig Weinrib in addition to the vibraphonist-leader. Two of the three concerts that took place in February were held at an intimate venue that was temporarily made into an attractive jazz club. 18, those two events will now be considered the second half of the Naz’s jazz festival. Since an unrelated concert by Charles Lloyd celebrating his 85th birthday was already set for Mar. Unfortunately it had to be reduced to three performances at the last minute due to illness, with the Christian McBride Big Band and a collaboration by Samara Joy with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra having to be cancelled. The Soraya in Northridge was all set to host their second annual Jazz Festival as a five-concert series held in a nine-day period.
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